By Katie Northcott, News Director
At its meeting on Thursday, June 11, the Coffee County Budget & Finance Committee revised its budget proposal to give county employees a three percent pay increase.
The committee passed its original budget proposal for FY27 on June 4. That proposal granted project requests from county department heads, included a two percent pay increase for county employees, and proposed no tax increase. The new proposal simply adds on an increased pay bump for county employees.
The original budget proposal would have left the county at around a $1.3 million deficit for FY27. The increased pay bump takes the county to a $1,944,945 deficit.
“I’ve always felt, even before getting on the commission, whether in the private sector or the public sector, that if an employee does not get a raise that at least matches inflation, essentially you’ve gotten a pay cut,” committee member Todd Malone said.
The three percent pay increase will be dispersed by county department heads, who may choose to split the pay increases among employees however they like. The committee intends to hold the department heads accountable by making information on how raises are dispersed available to the public.
Committee Chairman Tim Morris said that the county has $9 million in reserves that can cover the deficit. County Mayor Dennis Hunt emphasized that the county has proposed deficits in previous budgets and still come out in the black.
“That’s $2,299,842 of deficit that we budgeted in [FY25]. Much larger than the one we’re in, and much larger than the one we’re talking about,” Hunt said. “I don’t think nobody’s head needs to explode over the numbers we’re talking about.”
Malone said that the county’s reserve balance went up in FY25.
The committee briefly explored options like cutting back nonprofit funding and cutting county commissioner pay. However, the committee determined that these options are not feasible.
The committee will conduct a final discussion of the budget proposal on Thursday, June 18. The proposal will then go before the County Commission.
