Dougherty County Commission approves FY ‘18 budget

ALBANY — The Dougherty County Commission passed the county’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget Monday, a $68,725,255 spending plan.

But the budget passage came with words of concern.

“We’re really going to have to find ways to sharpen our pencils and cut costs in the next 12 months,” Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas said. “(Because of devastation from January storms), our tax digest is going to go down significantly. It will come back up, but we’re going to have to do what it takes to endure the downfall.”

The budget includes $49,451,946 for the county’s general fund maintenance and operations, a slight decrease from the current budget that runs through Friday. And while the county is anticipating FEMA and GEMA reimbursements for funds taken from its fund balance to pay storm recovery costs, its FY ‘18 budget includes a huge $6,518,270 estimated budgetary stabilization infusion from county reserves.

“We’re going to have to have some serious and frank discussions about our budget as we go into this new fiscal year,” District 5 Commissioner Gloria Gaines said. “I would assume that that will be the primary topic of discussion at our retreat. And I’m glad that we’ll be holding the retreat before Mr. (County Administrator Richard) Crowdis leaves.”

Crowdis announced early in the year that he would retire at the end of the year, and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government is working with the county to conduct a search for his replacement.

“And, Mr. Crowdis, since you’ll be hitting the road not long after, we hope you’ll be brutally frank with us,” Gaines said.

“Oh, he will, emphasis on the ‘brutal,’” Commissioner Lamar Hudgins, a close friend of Crowdis, said.

The various budgets that make up the county’s 2017-18 spending plan include:

— General Fund M&O, $49,451,946;

— General Fund CIP (capital improvement plan), $428,800;

— Special Services District Fund, $7,451,262;

— Solid Waste Enterprise Fund M&O, $3,747,100;

— Solid Waste Enterprise Fund CIP, $3,878,000;

— Confiscated Funds, $370,600;

— DHS Building Fund, $538,270;

— DHS CIP, $1,372,000;

— Lease/Commercial Fund, $126,500;

— Grants Fund, $1,211,179;

— Law Library, $149,598.