Very rarely are there problems with “decorum” at county commission meetings in Baldwin County.
That wasn’t the case at last Friday morning’s called meeting, however, when two different people were asked to leave after commissioners made a motion to adopt the 2027 millage rate.
With audible jeers in the background, commissioners unanimously approved a new millage rate of 13.36 mills, which is an increase of 3.49 mills over the current millage rate. This change equals an increase of $139.60 for every $100,000 worth of property, as assigned by the Baldwin County Board of Tax Assessors.
One mill in Baldwin County is worth approximately $1.6 million, so a millage rate of 13.36 adds up to around $21.4 million in property tax collections.
At the same meeting, commissioners passed a resolution “requiring monthly accounting and financial reports of county finances.” According to the text, the resolution “implements a requirement for the county manager or his or her authorized designee to ensure the preparation and presentation of monthly accounting and financial reports to the board at its first regular meeting each month. The monthly accounting and financial report shall include, at a minimum, a snapshot of the county’s cash position, including account balances and encumbrances, a year-to-date budget-to-actual report for each county department, and a comprehensive accounting of all active and completed county projects, including the project budget, funding sources, expenditures incurred to date, outstanding obligations, encumbrances, and liabilities, and an overview of the current financial status of each such project, as well as such other and further information as the board may desire.”
“This is one of the most important things we can do to show the public where their government stands,” said Commissioner Andrew Strickland. “This will change the way that we operate, from today moving forward, and make sure that the public and the commission is all reading from the same sheet of music.”
Commissioner Scott Little then spoke, making references to “a hiring freeze” and “pausing projects.”
Commissioner Sammy Hall then proposed a 3 percent budget reduction for all county departments and offices. The idea didn’t more forward, however. Little said this could create a “public safety issue,” noting that the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office and Baldwin County Fire Rescue are already short staffed.