Proposal Must

Now Be Approved

By Commission

To Become Final

By TOM YANCEY

Staff Writer

To provide money for asphalt paving of some county roads, the Greene County Commission's Budget Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend issuing a $390,000 six-month capital outlay note.

The committee had earlier decided to provide the money as a supplement to the county Highway Department's budget.

Increases in the cost of asphalt (as well as fuel, steel and stone) have stressed the already underfunded county Highway Department's budget this year.

To be final, the recommendation that the county government issue $390,000 in bonds requires approval by the Greene County Commission.

County Mayor Alan Broyles said a resolution about the capital outlay note can be presented at the Aug. 18 county commission meeting.

The agenda at the Aug.18 meeting is expected to focus on adoption of Greene County's 2008-09 budget.

"If the budget passes, as I think it will," Broyles said, the commission can then pass the capital outlay note resolution.

County government is now operating under a continuing resolution that allows each department to spend one-twelfth of last year's total budget each year, but prohibits any non-emergency capital outlays.

Road Superintendent David Weems said early in this year's budget-making process that his department would not have enough money in its budget to cover the amount of road patching that is needed on deteriorating roads, and would not be able to do any significant amount of resurfacing.

In early July, Weems submitted a budget that was out of balance by more than $800,000. Weems later trimmed about half of that amount, and the committee agreed to try to find a way to provide the remaining amount without a tax increase.

Commissioner Hilton Seay noted that the capital outlay note is to be repaid in six months, with funds from the General Debt Service Fund. The interest payment is not expected to exceed $15,000, the committee has been told.

Budget Director David Weems said Wednesday that the General Debt Service Fund currently has an unencumbered balance of about $1.1 million.

Lawing, a former state auditor, said state law would not allow a direct transfer of money from the General Debt Service Fund to the Highway Department, because the tax money that went into the Debt Service Fund was allocated in previous budgets to be used to cover county debt.

Issuing a capital outlay note creates debt that the fund can legitimately cover.