CFO gives projections for 2020 budget
During the August 12 Shelby County Commission meeting, Shelby County Chief Financial Officer Cheryl Naugher presented the FY 2020 revenue projections.
She is projecting the real and business personal property tax collections to increase 4.8% over last year’s budget, with an estimated $15,347,115.00 applicable to the county’s general fund and road & bridge anticipated expenditures. Naugher said that her projection is based on the tax assessment information given to her by the Property Tax Commissioner and examined in relation to actual historical collections.
Sales tax has increased over the past five years, with the same trend going into 2020, adding that an increase of 3.45% was a “very conservative estimate.” Part of this increase was due to the recent changes in the simplified seller’s use tax and the collections associated with internet purchases. This change increased the number of online businesses remitting sales tax. Due to the changes, we have seen an increase of $300,000 during this fiscal year.
Also of note, the water budget has a 5.8% increase, projected at $11,055,000 and the landfill budget saw a 1% increase overall totaling $5,256,890.
“Everything keeps staying fairly steady,” Naugher said. “Overall, most revenue increases are 3% to 4% per year on average over the past five years. We began recovering from the impact of the 2008 recession in 2014 and it has been building its way back up.”
One new source of revenue will come from Rebuild Alabama, the new gas tax initiated by the state legislature. County Engineer Randy Cole introduced the Transportation Plan for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 during the meeting. The county will report a project list each fiscal year that will utilize the funds received from the new gas tax. The project list included widening and resurfacing of 5.10 miles on County Road 55 from State 25 north to Page Creek Road and widening and resurfacing an additional 1.51 miles on County Road 55 from Page Creek Road north to CR 438. The estimated total cost of the project is $1,747,705.10.
All full-time Shelby County employees will receive a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Compensation Action for the period of September 27, 2019 through September 30, 2020. They will receive two percent of their annual rate of pay for services completed during the time period which will be based on the rate of pay as of September 13, 2019.
Resolutions passed include:
- Administrative award for the property tax commission building renovation project awarded to Wayne Davis Construction at $237,073.
- Bid for correctional apparel and accessories to Bob Barker, Inc.
- Purchase by Alabama Crown Distributing of property at West Corporate Park Site 16A.
The next Shelby County Commission meeting will be held Monday, August 26 at 6 p.m. at the County Services Building in Columbiana.