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THURSDAY. JUNE 17. 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 3A
COVID money, sales tax,
and economic growth boost
City of Jasper’s bottom line
What’s happening at
the Farmers Market
Custom made door hangers from Designs by DeLuca.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@piekensprogress.com
The city of Jasper’s 2020
audit, presented at their most
recent council meeting,
shows the municipality is in
better financial shape than
had been anticipated by city
officials.
An influx of COVID re
lief funding through the
CARES Act, a boom in sales
tax revenue, and increases in
fees related to new construc
tion led to a positive report.
“There were some unex
pected receipts,” said Jasper
CFO Beverly Ragland in a
later interview. “Addition
ally, there was a moratorium
on overtime. Staff also did a
better job of controlling oper
ating expenses. We were an
ticipating a shortfall of
around $260,000 and was
able to close the year in a
much better position.”
2020 General fund rev
enues increased by $467,000,
or 10.5 percent over 2019. Of
that, sales/use tax revenues
were up by $220,933 or 15.9
percent; CARES Act funding
came in at $208,000; build
ing permit revenue was up by
182 percent, or $84,000; al
cohol excise tax revenue was
up by $59,000 or 14.9 per
cent. Ragland said an unex
pectedly large Local Option
Sales Tax collection month
last year, which was the re
sult of a Department of Rev
enue audit spanning across
the entire region, also helped
their bottom line.
The city did increase the
millage rate last year, but
those taxes were not levied
until 2020 and will go to Hind
the 2021 budget, which is
why it did not appear in the
2020 audit.
Fines and forfeiture rev
enue from municipal court
fees were down by 22.5 per
cent, or $47,873 because
courts were closed due to
COVID safety protocols.
Those collections are ex
pected to increase this year.
The city’s total net posi
tion in 2020 was $24,973
million, with revenues ex
ceeding expenses by
$320,000. In 2019 the city’s
net position was $24,644 mil
lion and expenses exceeded
revenue by $581,000.
“You ended up with about
a $900,000 swing to the pos
itive, which was good, very
healthy, so you end up with
about $320,000 in the black,”
Sam Latimer with Rushton
auditors told mayor and
council. “As an auditor I was
expecting [sales tax revenue]
to go down but I was wrong.
It went up. Sales went online
and everybody was going to
the grocery store so sales tax
did fairly well.”
In the water and sewage
fund, revenues increased
$205,777, or 4.5 percent.
They saw a slight decrease in
water and sewer sales, less
than two percent in both
areas, but saw a 132-percent
increase in meter installation
fees, or $116,802, and a 233-
percent increase in sewage
tie-on revenue, or $80,250.
Expenditures were flat, up
just $1,672 over 2019. High
lights in expenditures were
increase due to the Pickens
County Economic Develop
ment position at $54,250; a
decrease of street depart
ment/personnel services of
$88,392 due to less overtime
hours; and a decrease of
$47,407, or 46.5 percent, in
the parks and recreation cap
ital outlay expenditures.
The city’s unassigned
fund balance, which are
monies that can be used at
city leaders’ discretion and
do not have restrictions on
where it can be spent, in
creased $317,729 over
2019’s fund balance of $1.6
million. The 2020 unassigned
fund balance was $1,917 mil
lion. Latimer said if the city
had zero revenue coming in,
the 2020 fund balance would
cover operations for 5.1
months. That’s an increase
from the 4.2 months the fund
balance would have covered
in 2019.
“You’ve had a healthy
bump from 4.2 months to 5.1
months,” he said. “Your
cushion’s gotten a little bet
ter.”
When asked about future
financial goals of the city,
Ragland said, they “will be to
have sustainability in each of
the various funds. Water
should make enough revenue
to cover the expenses in that
fund. Sanitation fund should
also make enough revenue to
cover their expenses. Those
funds are business-type funds
so income (revenue over ex
penses) to plan for future
needs is very important. The
general fund is largely
funded by property tax but
that is not the only source.
We are required by law to op
erate with a balanced budget
in that fund. We will con
tinue to monitor income ver
sus expenditures to make
changes where we can.
SPLOST revenues are used
only for projects that are
voter approved (not operat
ing costs).”
Auditors found one issue
with separation of duties,
which has been noted in
years past.
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By Heather Giambra
The Farmers Market was
happily busy. The weather
was cooperating and the
customers were walking
and strolling, otherwise,
rockin’ and rollin.’ Again,
there were new vendors and
repeat new vendors along
with our tried and true
bunch of dedicated Jasper
marketeers, who never fail
to come to the market with
their veggies, plants, eggs,
breads, cakes, cookies, and
crafts.
If you're looking to start
a garden, try our market.
Several vendors are offering
young plants for your gar
den plot. Tomatoes, pep
pers, and herbs are some of
the choices. Or you can just
buy from the veggie ven
dors who have done the
growing for you.
If it’s door decor you
need, then try Designs by
DeLuca. Custom made
round door hangers,
wooden signs, and comhole
boards are available. Whim
sical yard art, serious cut
ting boards, jams, jellies,
microgreens, kitchen tow
els, cotton candy, frozen
meats, earrings, shawls, the
list goes on and on.
This weekend is the
Master Gardeners plant sale
tent and Create Herb In
fused Vinegar program.
There will be a large num
ber of plant choices from
the MGs own gardens. Our
programs are always garden
related. The Master Garden
ers have two demonstration
raised bed gardens filled
with herbs this year. They
are located by the Chamber
of Commerce building
across from the Veterans
Memorial parking lot.
Herbs provide fragrance, in
spire our taste buds, and
even can provide health
benefits.
The Farmers Market is
located in the Park n Ride
parking lot across from the
Veteran’s Memorial, every
Saturday morning starting
at 7:30 a.m. until noon. The
Wednesday market starts
the 23rd from 11 a.m. until
2 p.m. until August 25th.
Please come see the market,
to be the market. New ven
dors welcomed. For more
info and pictures, like our
Facebook page Jasper
Farmers Market. Be sure to
pick the one in Jasper, Geor
gia.
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