HIAWASSEE, Ga. – Towns County Sole Commissioner Cliff Bradshaw will hold a special-called meeting at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019, to adopt the 2020 county budget. The meeting is open to the public and will take place in the commissioner’s office at the Towns County Courthouse.

Expenditures are set to increase approximately $993,000 in the coming year, with $11, 174,990 in anticipated disbursements. Bradshaw explained on Dec. 23 that he strives to “better and increase services” for the citizens, rather than “take away,” without necessitating a spike for Towns County taxpayers.

An across-the-board hourly pay increase of 50-cents will be given to county employees beginning Jan. 1, increasing the budget by approximately $150K. The cost to the county for the 2020 election cycle is estimated at $50K, and a 911-mapping plotter requires repair, at the expense of roughly $12K. An upgraded ambulance will be added to the EMS fleet, the third since Bradshaw took office. Two new dump trucks are needed for the road department, Bradshaw said last week, as no significant equipment has been purchased for road maintenance in the past 14 years. “We need two dump trucks, for sure, so we put money in the budget to buy one this year and then we’re going to look at doing the SPLOST tax…I don’t want to spend a lot of money on road equipment right now if we can get some of that SPLOST tax because it’s not coming out of the general fund. But they are needing one right now, so we’re putting it in there.” Bradshaw added that although the funds are appropriated, they will not be used unless necessary.

Funding for an additional employee at the Towns County Tax Commissioner’s Office was earmarked, as well as an expenditure for a mandated scanner device for the tax department. An increase in the Towns County Sheriff’s Office budget to furnish two additional deputies was allotted.

“A big chunk of the increase of the budget was the fire department grant, the ambulance, the dump truck, the raises, and the other items that I had mentioned,” Bradshaw said. “I don’t want the taxpayers to think we’re blowing money. We’re not. We wouldn’t even have this in here if we couldn’t cover it, and we’ve got it covered.”

The tentative budget was proposed as follows: