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On Tuesday night, the Troup County Board of Commissioners held one of two required public hearings for the upcoming FY2024 budget. The second hearing will be held on June 6, with adoption expected that night.

The budgeting process began in early March with input from all departments and agencies. The full proposed budget has been made available on the county’s website along with physical copies at all three libraries and the government center.

Troup County CFO Sonya Conroy gave an overview of the proposed budget prior to receiving comments from the public.

The proposed FY2024 general fund budget is $54,350,610, which is approximately 6.5% above last year’s budget. Conroy attributed the majority of the increase to increased costs for public safety.

The vast majority of the county’s expected revenue (83.46%) will come from taxes. Real and personal property taxes make up 55% of that and sales taxes are 13% of the general fund revenue, Conroy said.

The expenditures also include a 2.5% cost-of-living raises for all employees, effective January 22, which will cost approximately $1.5 million. The costs for the employee medical plan will also increase by approximately 15%, which equates to about $700,000.

Nearly half of the general fund expense budget (47%) will go to public safety, which will see an increase of $2,045,325 (9.2%). The budget includes the addition of three full-time firefighters for $200,000.

Conroy said additional budget increases were necessary due to sharp increases in inmate food and medical costs, and other insurance costs.

“We were notified by our inmate medical provider that we should expect an increase in malpractice premiums in April, and we had to do a significant budget adjustment for their inmate food and their medical and that’s reflected in the budget,” Conroy said.

Judicial administration marks the second biggest expenditure at 14.7% of the general fund budget. The proposed FY24 judicial budget will increase by $607,720 (8.2%). The district attorney and the public defender’s office will have increases of $50,000 each to help pay for cost-of-living increases and their ability to retain attorneys. Additional costs for jury per diems were also included.

Public works is approximately 8.84% of the total general fund budget, which includes four rounds of cutting and two rounds of trash pickup.

Approximately, 9.59% of the general fund is budgeted for culture and recreation, which will see a $159,385 increase (3.1%).

General government expenses are approximately 13.64% of the overall budget, which will jump from $7,029,491 in FY23 to $7,414,707 in FY24 for an increase of $385,216 (5.5%).

Noticeably missing from the budget is sanitation expenses, which the county plans to drop on July 1 as it moves to allow exclusive franchisee Martin Environmental Services to handle sanitation.