Work on the Carroll County Fiscal Year 2020 budget is nearing completion, and Auditor, Kourtney Irlbeck, presented some of the final numbers to the board at Tuesday’s meeting. One area where she sought board input was on the amount of Local Option Sales Tax (L.O.S.T.) dollars that should be allocated to increase general fund balances.
Proposed legislation, according to Irlbeck, could create a problem in future property tax collection if the county uses too much of the L.O.S.T. proceeds as an offset.
Irlbeck asked supervisors for a decision on how much should be transferred, and said she would not be comfortable with a balance below $700,000. Because of the potential of creating problems down the road with this funding, the board agreed to reduce the L.O.S.T. allocation from $350,000 to $250,000 and then make a transfer late in the fiscal year if needed to fund any shortfalls. Irlbeck also outlined the 2020 levy rate and the impact on property taxes.
Irlbeck says that about half is the new jail and part is just an increase in general expenses. Chair, Neil Bock, says people are not going to be happy about the increases, but it may help to put those numbers into perspective.
The budget is currently showing an estimated $21,814,914 in expenses and $20,776,996 in revenues. The public hearing for the 2020 budget has been set at 10 a.m. Monday, March 11. This will take place during the regularly-scheduled supervisor’s meeting and will be held in the board chambers at the Carroll County Courthouse.
