By John Deike
Coastal Courier (Hinesville, GA) Staff Writer
jdeike@coastalcourier.com

As the Liberty County economy continues to endure strains, the recommended 2008 budget faces a projected slashing of $364,000 from what department heads have requested for the coming fiscal year.
Because of the extended deployments and mounting property tax appeals, the county’s finance committee has recommended to cut capital items such as building improvements, computers, software and operation expenditures, Chief Financial Officer Kim McGlothlin said. The committee also plans to defer or delay the approval of some goods, services and the hiring of new personnel until at least the beginning of 2008, and if the expenditures are too high by that point, the spending on these deferred items could be cut too.
In preparing for the spending plan that goes into effect in July 1, the officials have been asked for about $24.4 million for the year.
At this point, they do not know what the revenue will be. Property assessments to collect taxes for the year were mailed last month and have sparked talk of appeals. If many appeals are filed by the deadline, it could lower expectations for revenue and delay approval of the tax digest, she said. In essence, this is one of the reasons the committee has made these deferments.
Since thousands of troops have been deployed, there has been a decrease in both the local options sales tax, and in court fines and forfeitures, which is inhibiting the growth of the budget, she said.
“This (finance committee) really struggles with the budget because they don’t want to grow it, as that may lead to increasing the county’s millage, and in the last two years they’ve decreased the millage,” she said.
“We annually meet to justify the budget as compared to the prior budget, and our function is not solely to just make cuts,” County Administration Joey Brown said. “By far though, the presence of our soldiers keeps our revenue on track, and while they’ve been gone, we have to pay very close attention to the budget so our recurring revenue can cover our recurring expenditures.”
Commission Chairman John McIver concurred and said during these strained times, it is better to project downward, while the troops are gone.
On June 13, the recommended budget will be available to the public at the courthouse annex. On June 20, a public hearing will be held to discuss and approve the budget as the beginning of the fiscal year is July 1, Brown said.

Committee members

The finance committee was created following the election of Commission Chairman John McIver, and is composed of three commissioners (McIver, Connie Thrift and Marion Stevens,) County Administrator Joey Brown and Kim McGlothlin.