Commissioners OK $4.4 million county budget

By Lynn Adams

When Sequoyah County‚s budget for fiscal year 2022-23 was approved Monday by commissioners, there was both good news and bad.

The good news is that the commissioners have about $1.2 million in carryover monies from last year‚s budget.

The bad news is there‚s more money needed this fiscal year to meet estimatmated needs of county departments than the budget amount the commissioners approved.

“Our monies were up again this year, which is good for us,” District 3 Commissioner Jim Rogers reported to his fellow commissioners.

Rogers said savings from insurance premiums is a major factor for the carryover of $1.2 million.

“What we did was created an individual account for that so that we can actually track that, and that‚s an account we can go to and transfer out of and utilize [those funds],” Rogers detailed for the commission. “We put those monies in that account âÂ€Â” it‚s like a Rainy Day saving account. To be able to utilize anything out of that, there has to be a transfer come across this desk, and the board has to unanimously approve that. Just checks and balances is how we utilize it. The auditors have audited us on that, they like this, the fact that we do have the checks and balances in place.” A year ago, the commissioners announced a carryover of $900,000, which was used at least in part for salary increases for some departments. At that time, Rogers praised the efforts and dedication by county elected officials to cut costs where needed, which brought the budget from the red (a deficit) to black (a surplus), which made the carryover possible.

The budget approved by the commissioners for FY2023 is $4,401,288.15, which is a 9.2% increase from the FY2022 budget of $4,045,599.64. The budget for FY2021 was $3,819,983.29.

Following the commissioners‚ approval, the budget must now be approved by the Excise Board before it is official. The FY2023 budget is for July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.

In determining the annual budget, the commissioners consider, among other things, the estimated financial needs for 15 county departments. The estimate of financial needs submitted for the sheriff‚s office topped the list for all departments, as it did for last year‚s budget, with an amount of $3,925,962.37, which is more than $1.5 million more than a year ago. For FY2023, the commissioners approved $740,000 for the sheriff‚s office, which was an increase of almost $200,000 from a year ago.

The commissioners department, which estimated financial needs of $2.3 million, was one of only two departments approved for less than the FY2022 budget. A year ago, the commissioners‚ budget was approved at $1,005,409.14. For FY2023, the commissioners are approved for $963,182.87.

The only other departmental estimate of financial needs to exceed six digits was general government, which submitted an estimate of $2,265,000. For FY2022, the department had an approved budget of $1,220,000. For FY2023, general government was approved for the highest amount of any department: $1,368,851.66.

The following is a breakdown of the FY2023 budget by department as approved by the commissioners:

• Revaluation

FY2023 budget: $438,500 FY2023 needs: $438,500 FY2022 budget: $425,500

• County clerk

FY2023 budget: $224,200 FY2023 needs: $230,333 FY2022 budget: $204,693

• Court clerk

FY2023 budget: $182,000 FY2023 needs: $198,933 FY2022 budget: $174,093

• Election board

FY2023 budget: $146,840 FY2023 needs: $178,029 FY2022 budget: $137,240

• County Treasurer

FY2023 budget: $127,467

FY2023 needs: $127,467 FY2022 budget: $127,467