The Fayette Citizen-News Page
Friday, September 4, 1998
Budget discussion

By JOHN THOMPSON
Coweta Editor

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After examining the budget closely during the mid-year review, the staff of the Coweta County Commission made an interesting discovery.

The county's revenue is $594,000 more than projected, which left the staff and commissioners smiling. The bulk of the increase comes from in increase of $394,000 in the special purpose local option sales tax.

During Tuesday's commission meeting, Assistant County Administrator Chuck Crawford recommended nearly $257,000 of the funds be earmarked for the county's contingency funds. The rest of the increased revenues would be used to pay for line items, such as the county's pension funds, that have increased during the first six months of the year.

The staff also recommended that adjustments be made to the capital projects fund. The biggest adjustment to the fund would be $96,000 to replace wrecked patrol cars of the sheriff's department.

The commission approved the recommendations unanimously. In other news, the commission decided to look into the feasibility of hiring a company to help with the 2000 Census.

Earlier this year, the commission had rejected getting involved in the census count, but Commission Chairman Jim McGuffey said it may be time to rethink the issue. After talking with members of the Association of County Commission Governments, McGuffey said the county could face losing federal funds if the census is not taken correctly.

"We'd be better served to bite the bullet now and make sure it's done right," he said.

The county's primary duty would be making sure the census folks were using up-to-date maps and making sure all the county's new subdivisions were counted.

But Commissioner Vernon "Mutt" Hunter was not sure involvement by the county is the right approach.

"I'd like somebody to show me how this is going to affect us," he said.

McGuffey and Commissioner Robert Wood said the county stood to lose money if the county was inaccurate.

"Can we afford to lose $1,500 per person that's not counted per year?" said Wood.

Hunter said he was not aware of any grants the county had lost because of missed population during the 1990 Census.

County Administrator Theron Gay said the county's staff would not have time to examine the maps. After further discussion, the commissioners decided to see if any companies could provide such an overview service to the county and what the cost would be.


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