Finance committee approves end-of-year budget amendments and ARP-funded vehicle purchases

The Bradley County Finance Committee approved a package of end-of-year budget amendments ("trueups") on June 5, voting 5-0 to forward the changes to the full commission. The amendments balance revenues and expenditures across the general fund and special funds and address two identified over-appropriations (inspection insurance and EMS salary lines).

Finance staff (Caleb) presented the package and explained that inspection costs exceeded appropriations due to higher insurance bills, while EMS salary lines were higher because the county staffed additional convalescent vans and therefore captured more reimbursable revenue. Adam told commissioners that the county is "poised to finish about a million dollars over our ... budgeted revenue" because staffing allowed the county to take calls it previously turned down.

Committee members also reviewed ARP and other one-time funding lines for capital equipment: the mayor listed vehicle and equipment requests (16 vehicles totaling roughly $964,000, EMS vehicles including a $122,000 van and an ambulance on order, and $263,000 proposed to fund Bradley County Fire & Rescue equipment). Members emphasized federal ARP spending windows and urged departments to order and accept equipment promptly to avoid having to return funds.

Votes taken: the committee adopted the first general-fund trueup (pages 3-4) and subsequent trueups (pages 5-11 and special funds pages 12-15) by unanimous votes and directed staff to place them on the full commission agenda. The committee noted that some departments have relied on multi-year purchase-order carryovers in the past and adjusted requests where auditors restrict carryover periods.

Next steps: staff will include the approved trueups in the full commission packet and finalize procurement actions for ARP-funded equipment to meet federal spending deadlines.