The Morgan County Commissioners mostly dealt with money matters this morning for their second to last meeting of the month of December. The commissioners pasted monthly bills, payroll, and a joint agreement for salary for Morgan County Road Engineer Matt Coultas. Coultas’ salary is split 60/40 between Morgan and Scott County after an agreement in 2012. Coultas’ salary of $113,500, which is set by the state, will eventually be reimbursed back to the county by the state through the Motor Fuel Tax and other revenue grants.
Morgan County also completed its tax levy for the upcoming year. Under the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law, the county will receive a 1.9% increase plus any annual growth in the county. Chairman Bradley Zeller said during the meeting that the county saw one of its lowest percentages of growth in the county’s property in recent years, coming in at less than a half percentage point. Zeller said that levying and budgeting for the county is a complicated process that begins in September and ends in early December each year. “At the end of August, first of September; we start our new budget. During the summer process, we are putting a budget together and we are determining revenues and expenses at that time. Come September 1st, we created a new budget. Now, in December, we are levying for the money to back fill that budget. That’s always been a process that’s been in reverse. I would think that you should see how much money you had before you prepared the budget, but our government and our fiscal year – that’s just the way it works. With this document, we are fulfilling the needs for our budget that was created on September 1st, 2019.”
The only changes in the budget was the T.B. Clinic will receive $20,000 less for the upcoming fiscal year due to the department having a surplus at the end of the year. The commissioners also announced that the courthouse would be closed December 24th beginning at noon and would be open all day on New Year’s Eve. The commissioners are scheduled to meet for the final time this year on December 30th at 9AM.