County’s fiscal year 2023-24 budget approved by board

The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors has finalized the fiscal year 2023-24 budget.
At their regular meeting April 18, The board held a public hearing on the proposed budget. Pastor Ray Simmons spoke before the supervisors, saying he knew that the supervisors were at the point they had to make numerical decisions. However, he felt the supervisors needed a theology and philosophy of taxation.
“Without that, we’re simply trying to match budget requests and available dollars. Among the things to keep in mind is the fact that there are legitimate needs in our government, like roads and things like that, but combined, they should not exceed 10%, because that’s all that God asks. We went to war for a 4% tax rate, and now we’re over 40%,” stated Simmons.
Also, Simmons urged the supervisors not to keep taxes low so the county could keep more of its own money.
“We want to keep taxes low so we can have freedom and so that we can help those in need. The scripture has a lot to say about helping the poor, but it’s always individuals doing it out of a cheerful heart individually. That helps because we can look people in the eye and actually determine needs,” Simmons commented.
Also, Simmons felt property tax was the most un-biblical, because the state does not own the land.
“God owns the land, and he gives it to us as stewards. I haven’t been in your position exactly, but I have been in the military where we have rising requirements and steady or declining budgets, so I know it’s difficult. I just pray that the Lord give you wisdom and the lands remain productive,” Simmons advised.
No written comments were received, and the public hearing was closed.
Under the proposed 2023-24 budget, total revenues were $14,155,718, an increase from $13,451,228 for 2022-23. Total expenditures were $15,480,446, an increase from last year’s $14,410,012.
Montgomery County Auditor Jill Ozuna said there were a number of factors that contributed to the budget increase this year.
“Our workman’s compensation went up 40%, health insurance costs went up 6%, inflation was a factor, our tort liability went up 30%. Overall, it was inflation that resulted in an increase in everything,” Ozuna said.
Ozuna added she was pleased that the budget had been completed and approved.
“Overall, I’m pleased with how it turned out. Everyone was really great in helping, and we all worked together and got through it,” commented Ozuna.
The supervisors also discussed the purchase of Cat6 cable for the county’s radio service. County IT director Sonia Morrison said the issue was noted after Montgomery County Emergency Management coordinator Brian Hamman started having issues with his radios dropping.
“They would drop for a few seconds and come right back up. There was no rhyme or reason, and it could be multiple times an hour or twice a day. We had Farmers Mutual Telephone Company help us troubleshoot the fiber line to rule that out, and FMTC noted traffic through the Muraki equipment on a line that was dedicated only for radio traffic,” Morrison said. “There’s a fiber line that goes directly from EMA to the law enforcement center. There’s not supposed to be any Muraki network on that line at all, but we were seeing it.”
Morrison said they also called in First Wireless, the entity that took care of all of the Motorola radios and equipment. While troubleshooting, Morrison said the problem was located.
“We were looking at the equipment in the storage room at the LEC, which is the old microwave equipment, and found out it was plugged into our network switches. That traveled to a network switch in the equipment room at the LEC, and a cable going from that network switch to the radio equipment. That’s how it’s tying into our network,” explained Morrison.
Morrison added the goal was to completely take the network out of that system, and have it dedicated to radio. Morrison said a fix was possible.
“It’s recommended we run the three cables that come from the old microwave equipment directly to the radio equipment in the other closet at the LEC. I got a quote to get that done, and they requested the Cat6 cable, at a cost of $1,500. I’m asking that expense be added to my American Rescue Plan Act funded projects,” Morrison said.
The supervisors approved Morrison’s request as presented. Morrison felt that this most recent expense would lead to a slowdown in requests.
“We have had a lot of unknowns pop up during this network upgrade project. We’re getting to the point where this should just about wrap up the issues we’ve had with the network equipment,” Morrison stated.