The Gilmer County Board of Assessors approved letting some of their unused 2022 budget funds go toward purchasing office supplies and work clothing for assessors office employees when meeting Thursday, Nov. 17.
The board currently has $12,000 remaining in its 2022 budget, and will spend an additional $1,200 of that before the year is over, leaving around $10,800 unused, noted Theresa Gooch, chief appraiser.
Last year, assessors office employees received about $300 each from the board’s unused budget funds to purchase work attire, all of which must have a county logo on it, Gooch noted. This year, they’ll get $400 apiece for the same types of gear, board members Bill Logan, Jerry Davis, Gary Engel, Tom Porter and John Williamson decided.
“I think, with the way inflation is now, $400 a piece (would be good),” said Logan, the board’s chairman.
The assessors office has 13 employees, making the total amount reallocated for the county-specific work attire $5,200, Gooch noted. “(Last year) that money went a long way,” she said.
Another $3,000 from the same unused budget funds will go to purchasing standard office equipment and supplies.
“My thought is, if we’ve got money that’s going to be leftover, maybe look at office supplies and stuff like that, to get ahead of the curve (with) something we’re going to spend the money on anyway,” Engel said.
“You don’t know what the budget’s going to do or inflation’s going to do, (and) everything’s going up so much lately. Some of that stuff, like ink cartridges, can add up,” he added.
Gooch said, based on current figures, the assessors office should end the year either on or just a little bit below budget.
“We had a few curve balls this year. We got hit with some stuff that was supposed to come out of last year’s budget, but (wound up) coming out of this year’s budget,” she added.
In other news …
﹣ Board members approved public utility assessment notices at the adjusted 37.74 percent rate recently determined by the state Department of Audits.
﹣ After board members approved the adoption of the latest ABOS/NADA boat value schedules, Gooch said boat values are seeing an increase.
The NADA values are up anywhere from 6.5-8.5 percent, and 76 percent of all configurations in the boat classification (which includes boats, personal watercraft, engines and trailers) have increased in value since June. A lot of that increase is likely due to supply and demand and what’s available currently, Gooch noted.
﹣ Board members approved a $2,448 expenditure for a computer program that will be used to do soil analysis for conservation use applications.
“It’s an extension of qPublic that would allow us to have access to easily (completing) the soils we use for conservation use by clicking a button. It takes about 30 days for them to set up the program. The goal would be to have it in place come Jan. 1 when we start processing conservation use applications,” said Gooch.