Collins amends budget, signs UCDA settlement

“In addition, multiple special revenue fund budgets were amended,” Collins said of former commissioner Lamar Paris’ last budget in office.

According to Certified Public Accountant Clay Pilgrim, who works for the independent financial firm Rushton & Company that audits the county’s finances each year, the approximately $4.4 million budget amendment actually reflected a $1,267,662 net loss to the county in 2024.

That’s because, while expenditures were significantly over the original budget, FY24 revenues were up a lot, too, leaving a shortfall of $1,267,662 that the county plugged with fund balance monies – a legitimate use of these funds – to keep the budget balanced as required by state law.

A shortfall is a shortfall, but notably, Pilgrim said this still left a healthy Unrestricted Fund Balance – that is, “reserve” monies – of $7,744,176, or about 3.3 months’ worth of proverbial “rainy day” funds for the county, which aligns with governmental accounting best practices.

Pilgrim pointed out that county budgets always need amending, as it is impossible to foresee exactly how much operational money will be required a year in advance, especially as costs have been increasing so much in recent inflationary years, and unexpected expenses inevitably arise.

This was a particularly large amendment, though multimillion-dollar budget amendments are not new to Union County Government.

The FY23 budget had to be amended by about $3 million, and there have been other sizeable amendments in the past that have required reserves to balance, so the county will need to pay close attention to its budget projections moving forward to prevent reserves from drying up.

Pilgrim attended the July 17 meeting to make a public presentation regarding the latest state-mandated financial audit report, which is always released this time of year, and to answer any questions about the reporting.

Pilgrim said the FY24 budget, which ran from Jan. 1, 2024, to Dec. 31, 2024, garnered an “unmodified opinion” from Rushton. In other words, the county’s recordkeeping for last year received a clean bill of financial health.

Pertaining to the General Fund, which is the main operating fund of the county, Pilgrim highlighted that county revenues increased $412,683 between 2023 and 2024 – though property tax collections shrank by $883,008 – while expenditures increased $3,004,995.

2024 expenditures represented a 12% uptick over 2023, driven largely by the following increases: $1.3 million in capital outlay and personnel costs at the Sheriff’s Office; $317,630 in personnel costs at the Fire Department; and $400,475 in personnel costs for road maintenance.

Union County Sheriff Shawn Dyer addressed some of the Sheriff’s Office budget figures during the public comments portion of the meeting, noting that simply examining such expenditure increases in isolation can be misleading.

For example, the FY24 Amended Budget shows the Sheriff’s Office spending about $1.6 million more than originally budgeted – the largest increase of any county department.

However, the majority of those additional expenditures were from updating the fleet with new patrol vehicles, which came with an offsetting revenue amount of roughly $1.5 million in trade-in proceeds.

So, the net increase in the budgeted amount at the Sheriff’s Office last year was around $100,000, accounted for in personnel and other capital outlay expenses, and not $1.6 million – a major clarification.

Among other FY24 audit highlights, Pilgrim shared that the “Government-Wide Net Position,” or the difference between total assets and total liabilities, was up to about $84 million, nearly 4% above the 2023 position despite the county having to dip into reserves to amend the budget.

GRIGGS SETTLEMENT

Commissioner Collins accepted a $200,629.02 settlement agreement with former Union County Development Authority Executive Director Mitch Griggs, which the Commissioner’s Office learned it would need to enact after dissolving the authority earlier this year.

The agreement settles “all matters pertaining to the severance pay and employment of Mitchell Griggs with the Union County Development Authority.”

“The previous Development Authority Board voted in executive session to approve a severance package for the Executive Director Mitch Griggs back in April of 2023,” Collins said. “Once the previous Development Authority was dissolved, his job was no longer an existing job, and his severance package had to be paid out since Union County assumed all liabilities of the Development Authority upon its dissolution.

“These funds were expended out of the Development Authority funds.”

Resident Wesley Hopgood raised the subject of the settlement agreement with Griggs during public comments later in the meeting, asking Collins, “Did you not take any consideration at all of what would happen the way you terminated him?”

“What other way was there to terminate him? You’ve got to get rid of him – you’ve got to fire him,” Collins responded. “I can tell you and everybody else can tell you, if he hadn’t been terminated, you would still be paying him $130,000 or $170,000 (a year).

“And (if) whoever got in after me wanted to terminate him, he’d be getting more money because he had all this time accumulated.”

County Attorney William Mercer spoke up then, asking to “clarify some language” used by the commissioner and Hopgood to describe the situation.

“No one was terminated as if, ‘Hey, you’re fired, get out of here,’ because that means the Development Authority was still in place,” Mercer said. “The Development Authority was dissolved. A new Development Authority is coming on.

“So, in that particular Development Authority that we had for so many years – and they did some good things for the county – they hired an executive director on their own, the board did. Union County was funding the Development Authority, which is unlike any other county I’ve ever known, over $100,000 every year. And they spent that money on their executive director.

“At some point in ‘23, I don’t know what the hiccup was or whatever else was, but in an executive session, they decided to give a very nice severance package to someone with language that basically said if he don’t work there anymore, he gets this package.

“Not if he gets fired or quits – basically, it’s like, ‘Hey, if I don’t work here anymore, I get this.’ Whether he quits, leaves, gets fired, dies – it left it up to just about anything.”

Mercer revealed the county received a demand letter seeking “almost $900,000,” which was why Mercer said he and another attorney had to get involved to say, “Hold on, now, this is what your severance package is actually, and this is what would actually hold up in court.”

The North Georgia News did not find mention of a “severance package” in the minutes of the April 28, 2023, Development Authority Board meeting, but the minutes reflect that the board did hold an executive session to discuss “personnel matters.”

According to the minutes, upon exiting executive session, the board voted unanimously to “change the Authority’s retirement plan from a (Simplified Employee Pension) to a 401K plan and authorized Mitch to formulate and execute the plan documents.”

The particulars of the executed plan documents were not available in the minutes.

SENIOR CENTER

Following through on his pledge to examine upping the county’s contribution to the Union County Senior Center after meal program funding challenges came to light this year, Collins doubled the amount the county has been sending to Legacy Link to operate the center.

“These funds will be used to match and supplement federal and state monies for the congregate meals at the Senior Center, home-delivered meals, wellness programs, out-of-home respite care, and transportation for Union County Seniors,” Collins said.

Continuing, “Union County has doubled their commitment from the previous year. The amount committed last year was $109,000, and we have gone up to $218,000.”

YOUTH RECOGNITION

Collins welcomed outstanding student athletes who had great success in Recreation Department programs this year, including the Seventh Grade Girls Volleyball Team, which won the Mountain Athletic League Championship under Coach Kristy Rusk, and the 12U Girls Softball Allstar Team that won the Mountain Athletic Conference under Coach Kevin Stalcup.

Stalcup took to the podium to congratulate the talented girls for their hard work, dedication and winning play, and he asked residents to support the rec programs, which “are not about a ball, a bat, a hoop – it’s about life lessons that we get to pour into, in this case, these young ladies.”

Part of his impassioned plea was for community members to attend games and even volunteer as badly needed coaches in the Rec Department: “The best investment we can make is for the young people in this community, and through sports, through recreation, give them life lessons.”

OTHER BUSINESS

Among other business, Collins accepted a lease renewal with the Blairsville-Union County Chamber of Commerce for use of office space in the Community Center. The agreement is for one year in the amount of $52,878.60, “with $40,074.50 being considered in-kind.”

County Manager Tony Hughes led a discussion about the impending roundabout planned for the intersection of Pat Colwell Road and Murphy Highway, noting that he and Collins met with Georgia Department of Transportation officials at the intersection earlier that day.

“They’re saying the roundabout is going to take place,” Hughes said. “They’re saying the beginning of February 2028; we’re saying a little longer than that, I guess. Just talking over a year to finish, so I would say you’re probably looking at a roundabout for the year 2030.

“That being said, we feel like something needs to take place, not sure what. They’re going to be doing (traffic) studies here. I told them … hang around and see what takes place down in that area when school starts back here in a couple weeks.

“But we’ll start getting a car count when that happens, and hopefully something can be resolved that we don’t have to wait until 2030 to help correct part of the issues they’re having down in that area.”

Commissioner Collins added that he told one of the GDOT representatives “if money’s the problem, we can fund this to get red lights up before somebody gets killed down there.”

“He said, ‘Well, I’ll talk to my boss,’ so you can take that with a grain of salt, I guess,” Collins said. “We don’t need to wait until 2030 before something gets done down there – there’s going to be somebody hurt bad.”

Hughes also said the county has a lightning siren at the top of Meeks Park, near the upper ballfields and pool, and that the Commissioner’s Office is planning to install other sirens in the lower area of Meeks Park and at the Elan Soccer Park off Murphy Highway for public safety.

Avita Community Partners Residential Coordinator Jeff Edge attended to talk about the public agency that was created by the Georgia legislature in 1993 to “serve persons experiencing the disabling effects of mental illness, developmental disabilities, and addictive diseases,” according to https://www.avitapartners.org/.

Edge said the greatest need Avita has right now is for households willing to serve as “Host Homes” to provide individuals with intellectual disabilities with long-term homes and secure environments. For more info or to find out how else to help, contact Edge at 470-660-7065.

The meeting adjourned after about an hour and 20 minutes. Collins’ next regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 21, at 6 p.m. inside the Union County Courthouse. The public is always encouraged to attend. For more information, visit https://www.unioncountyga.gov/.