Montgomery County Council members passed the 2024 budget Tuesday by a 5-2 vote.
Councilmen Brett Cating and Gary Booth cast the dissenting votes.
The new budget includes new positions, 4.9% pay raises for employees and is within the expected 2024 tax revenue.
There was some concern about the new budget which totals $18,561,571.
“The budget is too fat,” Booth said. “The state may not approve it and send it back to us.”
Councilman Steve Loy prefers to send the budget to the state and await their response. He said the budget is approximately 3.5% more than the 2023 budget.
County Auditor Mindy Byers will send the budget to the State Board of Accounts within a few days. Response time from the SBA is an unknown, but council members said they hoped it would be before the end of the year.
The council also approved the 2024 Montgomery County Solid Waste District budget in the amount of $107,000. The budget is the same as it was in 2022 and 2023.
Booth asked if the district, which has only been in existence for three years, has been effective.
Lori Dossett, executive assistant to the board of commissioners, said the district board is in the process of making the cost of recycling consistent within every county town. Currently towns are charged different rates for recycling bins. In some cases, the county is paying the whole tab, compared to some towns paying a percentage of the cost.
Darlington recently did away with recycling bins because the town council decided the cost was more than they could pay.
Dossett said she and Commissioner Dan Guard are working on a resolution to the problem.
The council approved $4,896,771 in numerous additional appropriations. All the funds are coming from other accounts or from grants already received.
A total of $3,875,000 was moved to help pay for water and railroad improvements as part of the Tempur Sealy construction site, including $875,000 from the Tax Increment Fund and a grant $3 million from the State Water Infrastructure Fund.
The next council meeting is 9 a.m. Nov. 4 at the Montgomery County Government Center.
