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Much of the proposed increase in the county budget could cover new positions such as a soil and erosion control inspector, elections technician, athletic assistant for Parks & Rec, assistant county manager and part time animal control officer.
It’s far from set in stone, but the proposed $22.2 million Lumpkin County budget for 2020 will grow slightly over this year’s by $400,000.
“We had some real growth in the digest this year, and some inflationary growth,” Finance Director Allison Martin said at last week’s work session. The budget team believes that real growth—growth from new construction—should cover the budget increase and still allow the county to roll back
the inflationary growth—growth due to an increase in property values. Most of the new money will go for salaries. Merit increases will again be given to employees. These were adopted in 2017 and are based on employee performance after annual reviews.
Additionally, County Manager Stan Kelley is recommending funding for several new positions. Out of seven requested full time and one part time positions, staff determined four full time and one part time positions are needed. “Most of these are not new positions. They are positions that were frozen when the economy tanked in 2008,” County Manager Stan Kelley said. “Demands on services are increasing. And with the new hospital coming we are already seeing an increase in permits and inquires. We see growth coming.”
ELECTION EXPERT
An elections technician is one of the new positions Kelley is recommending.
“As of Jan.1, 2016, Lumpkin County had 17,484 registered voters. As of Jan.1, 2019, that number has increased to 21,438. That is an unprecedented increase in voters in an extremely short amount of time,” said Chief Registrar and Elections Manager Ashley Peck.
Additionally, her office has more duties to perform than before. In four years the number of registration processes jumped from 2,183 to 9,861—a 350 percent increase “In 2016 the elections technician [currently employed in the office] accrued 145.5 hours of comp time and 49.4 hours of paid overtime,” Peck said.
House Bill 316, passed this year, not only changes the state’s voting machines. It adds even more duties to the already overburdened office. Some of the changes deal with security, others with testing of the machines and training while others add processes for absentee balloting and provisional ballots plus a mandated post-election audit.
PLANNING PROGRESS
Along with burgeoning growth in the local construction industry comes additional costs to the county. The Planning Department’s request for a Code Enforcement and Soil & Erosion Control Inspector (a combined position) made the proposed list of approved new positions. It is a previously frozen position.
Right now code enforcement and soil and erosion are being handled by the department at-large, along with issuing building permits and inspections of new construction.
Both permits and inspections are up slightly from last year, said Planning Director Bruce Georgia, “But environmental complaints are way up,” he said. “Just in erosion complaints, we’ve nearly met the number we had for all of last year.”
Additionally, Georgia said, “We are trying to prepare for the hospital and the accompanying growth it will bring, freeing up our inspectors to deal with what’s coming.”
PARKS & REC PLUS ONE
Another frozen position Kelley is hoping to restore is athletic assistant for Parks & Rec.
Between 2018 and this year the department added four new sports for youth and adults—pickle ball, fall baseball/softball, wrestling and track & field.
“[They] all had successful inaugural seasons and we do anticipate further growth in these activities,” Chandler said.
Parks & Rec uses the high school facilities for its track & field and wrestling activities, which, Parks & Rec Director Wade Chandler said, “spreads our current staff extremely thin.”
In addition, the majority of the department’s staff are part time. Sports that take place in the morning or early afternoon, such as pickle ball and senior softball do without full Parks & Rec staffing.
“An additional full-time position would allow our Athletic Coordinator to focus more time on administrative duties, coach recruitment, policy updates, league planning and other high-level tasks,” Chandler said. Currently, there is an athletic event happening seven days a week nearly every week at Parks & Rec.
RETIREMENT READY
After 15 years as county manager, Kelley plans to retire at the end of 2020. He asked commissioners for an assistant county manager’s position to be added to the proposed budget “to provide continuity,” he said.
Kelley has filled the position since the county changed to a five-man board in 2005. Someone from his current staff would be hired for the position and could, if they chose, apply for the manager’s spot when Kelley leaves. “I think it’s important to have someone here with institutional knowledge to fill the gap,” he said.
EXTRA ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER
Calls for an animal control officer have nearly doubled for the time period of Jan. 1 through May 16, 2018 and the same four-and-a-half months of 2019, said Animal Shelter Manager Wayne Marshall. Currently, Marshall and one full time officer are on staff at the shelter. Marshall is asking for approval to unfreeze half of a frozen position, creating a part time animal control officer.
“These significant increases can be attributed to our growing population and their amplified expectations of service,” Marshall said. Requests not considered for new personnel include an additional property appraiser, fire inspector and deputy planning director. All departments will have the opportunity to present their case to the BOC Friday, June 28, beginning at 9 a.m.
Other items being considered in the budget are some minor equipment and capital purchases and enhancement to the Animal Shelter—a quarantine facility and roofing. Staff also proposed setting aside $220,000 for a possible bump in insurance rates when renewal time rolls
around in July 2020.
“As always,” Kelley said, “this budget is as conservative as we know how to make it and still maintain the level of services people expect.” As stated earlier, this is a proposed budget, and lots of work will go into it between now and the day it will be voted on. For starters, county administration doesn’t even have the digest yet.
“Until we see the final digest and can run the calculations, we won’t know if all of the budget requests can stay or will have to be prioritized and cut,” Martin said. “Until the final numbers come in all of this is just proposed and subject to change.”