County Budget Can’t Accommodate For Raises: JC Quorum Court Hears Update On 2025 Finances
by Janice Penix
The county will depend on reserves to meet its budget this year, Justice of the Peace John Payne told members of the Johnson County Quorum Court at their monthly meeting Thursday, March 20.
Payne, who serves as chairman of the budget and personnel committees, presented up-to-date figures for anticipated revenue for 2025, as part of the committees’ research into a request from the sheriff’s office to provide raises.
Also working with Payne to compile the financial information were Rickey Casey, director of emergency management who also provides human resource services, and Darrel Wheeler, retired legislative auditor who assists the county annually with its tax settlement.
Total anticipated revenue for the year is $7,517,905.51, and Casey explained 10 percent of that total must be held back as emergency reserves, according to state law. Therefore, revenue available for appropriation is $6,766,114.96.
When the Court prepared and approved its 2025 budget, it was utilizing the previous year’s figures, Payne said, as actual revenue figures were unavailable until this month, when all of the 2024 bills had been paid.
The 2025 budget totals $7,284,727.60, leaving a negative balance of -$518,612.64. However, Payne said the 10 percent withheld, which totals $751,790.55, can be used to cover that discrepancy at year’s end.
“I think everyone here wants to do what is best for our employees, but based on what we’re seeing here, I don’t think we can move forward on raises with what we know,” Payne said.
Discussion was held at a personnel committee meeting about ways to raise revenue, and Payne told the Court there are two options: millage and sales tax. The county’s current millage rate of five mills is the maximum allowed by law, he said, leaving a sales tax the only option to consider.
Payne provided a breakdown of the total revenue the county receives from the existing one-cent sales tax. Funds generated by the tax are allocated to the county and each municipality, based on population, with the county receiving 50.8 percent of tax revenue. For January, Johnson County received $193,584.53, and Payne explained that only 72.5 percent of that total is allocated to the county general fund, with the remaining 27.5 percent allocated to the county road fund.
“One cent is just not going to generate a whole lot of money,” Payne said. “The negative to a sales tax is, I’ve always considered it regressive, because it negatively impacts your low-income population.”
County Judge Herman Houston said the county enjoyed several years in which it received federal COVID relief funds that increased its budget significantly, allowing raises to be implemented for all county employees, as well as other major capital projects. He said the termination of those programs means a return to tighter budgeting.
“There is no extra money, it’s just not there,” Houston said. “If we didn’t have that 10 percent, we’d be in trouble. COVID and the CARES Act money started this. We had all this money coming in and, after a year or two, it’s not there. The county is still in good shape, we do have reserves, but the extra money is just not there.”
Houston also said employee bonuses may be an option for the Court to consider this year, instead of increasing salaries.
The full story appears in the March 26 edition of The Graphic, found online and in businesses throughout Johnson and Franklin counties.
