June Audit Forces Budget Amendment

Pickens County Financial Officer Mechelle Champion calls the recent budget amendment “house keeping.” During the May 24th Board of Commissioner’s Meeting, Champion explained that the budget amendment is a result of the county’s June Audit.

“Our audit,”

she said,

“is due June 30th…And the Georgia Department of Audit has a law that (states) if you’re budget is more than 3 percent variance that you have to make an explanation.”

Most counties, she continued, pass a budget amendment to amend their budgets back to their actual amounts.

Champion noted the county had

“just a couple things in 2012 (it) needed to do.”

According to Champion, one of these “things” was address the recently-negotiated-arrangement with the public defenders office. In November the three counties in the Appalachian Circuit (Gilmer, Fannin and Pickens) began negotiating benefits costs for public defenders’ employees, not including public defenders themselves. Previously, each county paid a third of the employees’ benefits. In light of the increases, however, the counties sought to move the employees’ plans from state benefits to county benefits, due to the lower costs of county benefits.

“In December,”

Champion recalled,

“we were in the process of working with the other two counties on the public defender’s office. So, I’ve made the changes.”

According to the arrangement, she said as the administrator county Pickens will have expenditures for the public defenders’ office, but will also receive revenue from Gilmer and Fannin.

Per the arrangement, Champion explained eventually the county will move the benefits of all eight employees to county plans. At this point, though, four employees will be moved to county plans and four will stay in state plans.

“We’re having to do it over a time span,”

she said,

“We can’t just do it all at once.”

According to Champion the new arrangement will save Pickens County approximately $80,000.

FYN has requested an explanation of the three percent variance and a copy of the recently amended budget.