Carly Farrell
AMERICUS — The economy’s bad — that’s no secret.
Ann Barefoot, Sumter County’s financial director, handed out a revenue analysis to the Sumter County Board of Commissioners Monday at its March work session, and the summary shows exactly how the bad economy has affected parts of Sumter County.
Barefoot provided a comparison of Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10) to FY09, which compared several of the larger groups in the county.
Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) had a budgeted revenue of $2.25 million in FY10. They’d collected $978,653.05 in taxes as of Feb. 28. They needed to collect $1,271,013 more, or 56.49 percent more in taxes to make the projected budget. But, in FY09, LOST had a budgeted revenue of $2,181,679, and by the same time last year, they’d collected $1,117,033, and needed to collect $1,064,646, or 48.8 percent more to meet the budgeted revenue.
Sumter County’s Tax Commissioner’s office, in FY10 and FY09, had a budgeted revenue of $8,970,444. In FY10, they’d collected $7,452,521 as of Feb. 28, and they needed to collect $1,457,923 more, or 16.362 percent more to meet their budget. But in FY09 at this same time, the collected year-to-date money was $6,888,981, which left $2,021,463, or 22.686 percent to be collected by the end of the year.
Sumter County’s State Court in FY10 had a budget of $450,000, and had collected $194,102.22 of that by Feb. 28, which left $255,897.78 yet to be collected, or 56.866 percent more to be collected. In FY09, though, the state court had a budget of $500,000, of which they’d collected $212,823.48. That left $287,176.52 left to be collected, or 57.435 percent.
Sumter County Superior Court, in FY10, had a budget of $75,000. They’d collected $16,375.38 of that as of Feb. 28, which left $58,624.62, or 78.166 percent left to be collected. In FY09, though, the Sumter County Superior Court had a budget of $100,000, of which they’d collected $21,861.24. They needed $78,138.76 more, or 78.139 percent more money to be collected.
Sumter County’s Jail’s housing unit, in FY10, had a budget of $190,000, of which they’d collected $74,790 as of Feb. 28. That meant they needed to collect $115,210, or 60.637 percent more to meet budget. In FY09, the Jail was budgeted for $125,000, and had collected $74,205. That left $50,795 more, or 40.636 percent more to be collected.
Sumter County’s Correctional Institute, in FY10 and FY09, had a budget of $2,600,000. In FY10, the jail had collected $1,477,870.14, and which left $1,122,129.89, or 43.159 percent, more to be collected. In FY09, though, the Jail had collected $1,459,621.92, which meant they needed to collect $1,140,378.08, or 43.861 more by the end of the fiscal year.
The end of each fiscal year is June 30.
The Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to make McArthur Drive part of Memorial Mile because of a letter G. Edward Pope and Alan Allmon wrote requesting such. McArthur Drive is now a dirt road that begins at the south end of Memorial Mile and runs west to a dead end. Pope owns property on the north side of the road, and Allmon owns the property on the south side. Pope said he’d recently had a trailer and a golf cart stolen from the property, and hopes by closing the now private road, it’ll better protect his property. In order for Pope to proceed with the process of making the road public to become a part of Memorial Mile, the Commissioners needed to concede to his request, which they did unanimously.
The Board has already decided they’re going to make a tornado shelter out of the old Tog Shop building. They will discuss in depth Thursday which loan they’d like to go with from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Loan Program. They have a choice between a 10- or 30-year loan.
Lake Blackshear’s Fire Station at McMath Mill Road — Station 9 — needs to be expanded, and the Commission needs to decide whether to build an addition onto the building or purchase a trailer for the building. Skip Starling, operations chief for Sumter County’s Fire Department, thinks purchasing a trailer for the station would be the most cost-effective idea. Starling said he’d found a trailer that would cost the county $26,000.
“And boy, there’s a good bit of square footage in there,” Starling said.
There’s a master bedroom and a smaller bedroom, a common area, a kitchen and a bathroom.
The commission also unanimously consented to a request for inmate labor for the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter family and the Youth Development Center.
Commissioner Al Hurley said he’d noticed washout at a stop sign on Irene Drive.
Chairman Brent Williams also noticed a muddy area by the mailbox of C & J Pallet, and wanted the commission to consider putting gravel there.
Larry Odom told the Times-Recorder late Tuesday afternoon that he and a group of other concerned citizens plan to attend Thursday's meeting of the Board of Commissioners to speak in favor of the consolidation issue.
