Health & Fitness
Rising Debt Service Costs and Increased Water and Sewer Rates Part of Utility Department Budget Request
As the Oconee County Board of Commissioners begins its open deliberations on the 2012 fiscal year budget, one of the items before it is the proposed $7.1 million budget of the Utility Department.
The Oconee County Utility Department announced its budget last month, including both water and sewer rate increases.
The actual budget request wasn't released to the public, however, making it hard to know why the department was proposing an 11 percent increase in revenue and expenditures from a year earlier.
I filed an open records request to get the budget request.
The budget shows a department severely constrained by mounting debt service, including for unbuilt Hard Labor Creek Reservoir in Walton County.
But it also shows a department seeking money for basic maintenance. Salaries are frozen, as is hiring. But personnel costs are increasing because of contributions to insurance and retirement benefits.
The Board of Commissioners is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. tomorrow night in the courthouse to try to figure out ways to bring spending down and revenue up. The water and sewer rate increase is but one of the items it will be reviewing.
More details about the Utility Department budget are at Oconee County Observations.