With the exception of the Environmental Health Fee Schedule, the Oconee County Board of Commissioners approved the 2010 Fiscal Year budget at a meeting on June 23.  The Environmental Health Fee Schedule will be reviewed and considered at a later date.

At approximately $34.5 million, the approved FY10 budget included a number of recent cuts and fee increases. Through those cuts and fee increases, the Commission reduced the amount drawn from the county’s fund balance to balance the budget by $277,075 (from $921,734 to $644,659).

Having approved the bulk of the cuts and fee increases at a June 2 meeting, a few items were still up for consideration at the June 23 meeting.

Among the most controversial potential cuts was the Keep Oconee Beautiful Association’s Executive Director position. After a number of comments from members of Keep Oconee Beautiful at both the June 2 and June 23 meetings, the Commission agreed to partially fund the position at $12,000 rather than at the $35,175 level of previous years.

A $5,200 part-time receptionist position for the Board of Commissioners office as well as a fifty-cent increase on blue bag fees were both approved as well.

Chairman Melvin Davis also asked the Commission to consider restoring a few items to the budget. The Commission restored $30,000 of the $74,000 cut for education and travel at the June 2 meeting as well as $10,000 for advertising for Economic Development and $9,400 for contract labor in the Probate office.

The final adjustments at the June 23 meeting mean $31,425 more will be drawn from the fund balance than the $613,234 expected after the June 2 meeting. The $644,659 total draw is down from $921,734 in response to an earlier request by Commissioner John Daniell to reduce the amount of spending to be paid through the county’s fund balance.

Mike Sprayberry is a reporter for The Oconee Leader. He can be reached at 706-310-1104 or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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