The Franklin County Commission approved a budget for fiscal year 2017-18 in the amount of $12,596,215 at a special called meeting Friday.
The budget contains $6.79 million allocated to the general fund, $3.39 million to the Franklin County Highway Department and $2.47 million to the Solid Waste Department.
The budget represents a small increase from the FY 2016-17 budget, which totaled $12,248,910.83.
“As always, it's a tight budget,” said Franklin County Probate Judge Barry Moore. “Our department heads have done a good job staying within their budgets we had this year, and we look forward to that continuing in the next fiscal year.”
While no across-the-board raises were given in the new budget, it does account for any step raises due in the 2017-18 fiscal year. With an increase of 1.5 percent in health insurance premiums for county employees, the budget absorbs that additional cost. Franklin County full-time employees receive individual coverage health insurance and are charged a partial premium for family coverage.
According to Moore, the difference needed to balance this year's budget will come from transfers from the Capital Improvements Fund, Public Buildings Fund, Public Highway and Traffic Fund and a fund balance brought forward from last year.
Capital outlay items for the Franklin County Sheriff's Department and the highway and solid waste departments will be purchased through those departments.
The new budget does not include revenues from the one-cent countywide sales tax, which allocates 75 percent of the approximate $2 million annual revenue for Franklin County and Russellville City Schools and 25 percent for matching funds for Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program grants. After the 2011 tornado, Franklin County received approximately $12 million in ATRIP grants subject to the county providing its required matching portion. Those funds are maintained in a separate fund used solely for ATRIP spending, Moore said.
Commissioners also approved a $714,190.88 budget for the Franklin County Reappraisal Office. The county is responsible for 60 percent and the state of Alabama for 40 percent of that budget.
