Hancock to lead county in 2019
♦ Commissioners also adopt a budget for next year with no millage rate increase.
Floyd County commissioners unanimously chose Scotty Hancock on Tuesday to chair the board in 2019. Commissioner Wright Bagby was the unanimous selection as vice chair.
Chair
Rhonda
Wallace said the early vote, along with the adoption of the 2019 budget, is aimed at allowing the board to focus immediately on business instead of administrative issues in January.
“It’s been an honor to serve as your chair for the past two years, and I’m looking forward to four more years serving with you,” said Wallace, who was reelected to her second full term in November.
She won a special election in 2012, so is finishing her sixth year in office. Wallace was the first woman to head the commission in nearly three decades. Under her tenure, the board formally changed the title from “chairman” to “chair.”
Hancock, who served as vice chair for two years, won his seat in 2014. He was unopposed for a second term, which starts in January.
Bagby was first elected in 2016 and his term runs through December 2020.
Also on Tuesday, commissioners approved the budget for the coming year following a public hearing in which no resident offered comments.
No millage rate increase is planned, although County Manager Jamie McCord said the budget is projecting a 2.5-percent increase in property and sales tax revenue.
“I feel confident we can grow by that amount. I hope we can grow by more than that amount,” he told the board.
The budget includes finding money for employee merit raises of up to 4 percent, and the second phase of increases to equalize pay rates of corrections officers.
The board also is adding four new positions in the Floyd County Prison to meet staffing-level requirements under the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act. Two part-time positions — in the courthouse and in animal control — will be boosted to full time slots.
An increase of nearly $600,000 for the cost of employee health insurance is factored in. And the county’s total debt service cost is nearly doubling, to $820,000, with the addition of payments for the industrial property purchased off Ga. 140. The amount is slated to rise again in 2020.
“We have to sell that property,” Wallace said. “Once we sell that property, we’ll be OK.”
The budget calls for the use of $3.2 million from the fund balance, but McCord said the amount of the projected deficit usually drops as expenses and revenues become more clear. The spending plan includes extra money to cover a spike in fuel costs, for example, but gas prices dropped shortly after it was drafted.
“We’ll keep it in there and take another look mid-year,” McCord said.
Commissioners also approved a plan to convert 2,566 roadway lights to LED from traditional. McCord said the new lights will last longer and be able to send a signal to Georgia Power Co. when one is out.
There are significant outages around the county now and they only get fixed through work orders, he noted. The new system will cost another $5,412 a year, he said, but the expense is justified by more frequent and faster replacements.