Thursday, January 30, 2014
Resolution To Change Budget Amendment Process Is Tabled
A resolution brought before the Lawrence County Board of Commissioners that would provide some change regarding the amendment process for the county budget was tabled after a lengthy discussion Thursday.
The resolution was brought to the table during the commission’s regular bi-monthly business meeting.
The resolution, sponsored by Commissioners Neely Luna and Ronnie Taylor, would, “Require that every budget amendment that requires additional funds to a budget line item and the transfer of funds from the General Fund for such budget amendment to be brought before the county legislative body as a separate resolution.”
Under the current process commissioners typically vote on a list of amendments as a whole during each meeting. In general the amendments cover various unpredictable expenses associated with day-to-day operations of county government. These expenses could be in response to some type of state mandate, or for urgent matters such as repair to equipment in order to avoid a shutdown of various operations or services.
Luna explained the reasoning behind the resolution, stating, “When we vote on budget amendments most of the time we get a list of 10, 15, 2 or 3 and we vote on that as a lump sum…I might want to vote yes on one amendment and I might want to vote no on another one…This is not moving money from one line to another in a budget that’s already been approved at the beginning of the year when that budget was approved.
This only comes in effect if we dip back into the General Fund and ask for additional funds to go in a budget. Any time you’re asking for additional funds other than what was already approved in that budget, I’m asking that they come in a separate resolution to where I can itemize that resolution. It might give me the opportunity to go see the sheriff or whoever and say, ‘What do you need this money for? You have done spent your budget.’ And that’s my purpose. I’m not saying anything was done wrong.”
County Budget Director Teresa Purcell explained, “In TCA (Tennessee Codes Annotated) it tells me how I do these amendments. This is Tennessee Code and that’s exactly how I do them. The fund name is listed, what department it comes from, the account title, what type of account it is, whether it’s an expenditure or revenue, what source, and of course whether it’s a debit or credit and how it’s going to effect the balance.”
Commissioners questioned whether a dollar limit could be established, requiring that only expenditures over a set amount be brought separately for consideration. Purcell said, however, that this would only further complicate the process. She recommended that, should a change be made, it apply to all budget amendments.
“You probably need to clarify it because, you have your General Fund balance, you have a Highway fund balance, a School Board fund balance, and you’re going to have to understand that in any of those funds you can dip into fund balance,” she explained. “So if you’re going to establish a new rule it needs to be done for any fund. It’s going to get confusing…whoever’s sitting in this seat is going to go by what the state says, so we need to be uniform in whatever we do…I’m not really for setting a threshold because it’s going to be difficult – I might miss it…I had just rather, if you’re going to do it by separate resolution, we do all of them. That’s going to be easier for me.”
After considerable discussion Commissioner Wayne Yocum recommended, “Since there seems to be some confusion and we need some time, I want to make a motion that we table this.” The commission then voted to table the matter for possible consideration at a later date.
