Budget committee approves capital projects fund 171 with $600,000 transfer to general fund amid member concern

The Budget and Finance Committee approved the proposed capital projects budget (Fund 171) and voted to forward the FY27 budget packet and tax rates to the full commission, even as several members expressed concern that a $600,000 transfer from Fund 171 to the general fund (Fund 101) had not been previously noticed.

The committee’s discussion centered on the $600,000 "transfer out to 101" listed in the Fund 171 packet. Miss Thomas pointed to page 32 and asked staff to confirm whether the transfer was still part of the proposed budget; Amy, the committee’s budget staff, confirmed that the transfer is included as a financing source to help balance Fund 101.

"If we've moved as much money as we've already moved and the 101 needed another $600,000, we got a major problem with the 101," said Mr. Thomas, raising concerns about the county’s reliance on one‑time or special revenues to make operating budgets balance.

Members discussed specific revenue sources that appear in Fund 171 and that could be used to cover the transfer, including a county share of recent sales-tax receipts tied to the Embridge project, roughly $300,000 in solar-farm impact fees, and approximately $300,000 in CoreCivic administrative fees. Mr. Gully and others warned those receipts may be one-time or timing-sensitive and therefore not reliable for long-term operating needs.

Miss Overman said she had missed the $600,000 when reviewing the packet and declined to support sending the budgets forward without re-review. "If I missed $600,000, what else did I miss?" she asked during the meeting. Despite her objection, the motion to approve Fund 171 and to send the packet to the full commission carried; Miss Overman cast the sole recorded no vote.

Committee members and staff repeatedly emphasized that approving the budget as presented — which includes the Fund 171 transfer — would mean no tax-rate increase this year. "There is no tax increase on this. It remains 2.10 in the general and 0.6731 in the urban," a member stated during the vote.

Several members asked for a follow-up, line-by-line review of Fund 101 before final action at the commission level, citing structural issues: the expiration of multi-year grants and ARPA projects that previously bolstered revenues; higher overtime/holiday-pay accounting for personnel costs; and the risk of repeating shortfalls in future years if one-time revenues are used to plug operating gaps.

The committee approved the fund balances and financial statements, and it approved Fund 171 with a favorable recommendation to the full commission. The committee recorded no detailed roll-call tally in the transcript besides noting Miss Overman’s dissent; the full commission will review the packet in its next session.

What’s next: the packet— including ordinances for the 101 budget and tax rate—was transmitted to the full commission with a favorable recommendation. Committee members requested an additional review of Fund 101 prior to the full commission’s final budget hearing to clarify the $600,000 transfer, confirm revenue sources, and examine whether any structural budget adjustments are necessary.