Montgomery County commissioners gave little support to a proposal that would have allowed several departments to carry over funds from last year’s budget.
Budget Officer Amanda Carter made the suggestion at Tuesday’s commissioners meeting.
In a 3-2 vote, the court moved the funds back to its general fund. Commissioners Charlie Riley and Matt Gray were the lone nay votes and said they supported the action but said some departments needed the funds.
Carter said 11 departments requested $547,509 be carried over from the 2023 budget of 397.7 million. However, she recommended the court approve $425,188 of those requests.
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She said the funds are left over from departments that were unable or did not make purchases for certain items or from employee vacancies. She said the funds are in addition to each department’s approved 2024 budget.
“They have asked for carry-over money for training opportunities, certification opportunities and new uniforms,” Carter said.
County Judge Mark Keough said the county’s $419 million budget adopted in August was crafted based on department needs.
Commissioners faced a tough budget year as a record number of property tax lawsuits coupled with a delay in applied homestead exemptions for 11,000 homeowners has left the county with a $2.3 billion loss in property value and a revenue shortage of almost $6 million.
Keough said the court worked to accommodate department heads and their request for 2024 despite the shortage.
“When we adopted the budget, we increased the budget, increased salaries, we increased a number of things, we gave people more people,” Keough said. “We pretty much gave everybody everything they wanted and now we are going to turn around and give everybody back $425,000. Am I missing something? That’s a problem.”
Riley said he didn’t support denying funds to all the departments.
“I don’t want to vote no on all these,” Riley said. “I just don’t.”
Keough said the court should have known about the funds.
“I’ll vote against it with you,” Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack said.
Keough said the court should move the money to the general fund and if a department has a need, they can request it at a future meeting and could be funded with contingency funds.
