OC Budget and Finance Committee to meet on May 22

The extent to which the Oconee County Council will make additions to the new budget could be determined during the next meeting of the budget and finance committee. That meeting is set for Tuesday, May 22. The Oconee County Council has already given its commitment to hire additional school resource officers and establish a deputy coroner as a full-time job, but other changes remain uncertain as the result of last night’s first reading, in title only, of the 2018-19 Fiscal Year Budget. Still up in the air are other potential amendments that would buy an additional fire truck, address ADA compliance at High Falls Park, and provide new quarters for the Westminster Magistrate. Once all of those budget changes are factored in, the size of the tax increase to fund them can be determined. One estimate, so far, is an approximate two-mill increase which would add $8 to the property tax bill of the owner of a home with an assessed value at $100,000.