VALDOSTA — The county approved its 2018-19 budget Tuesday with a $3 million increase from last year’s budget.

At a public hearing Tuesday, the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners approved a balanced budget of $106.9 million.

Lowndes County Commission Chairman Bill Slaughter said the budget includes new positions for misdemeanor probation services that will be provided by the county. A director for probation and multiple staff members have already been hired.

Historically, state court has used misdemeanor probation services through a private contract.  

After a decline in services, state court judges requested the service be brought in-house, according to the county. The board of commissioners finalized plans for the department earlier this year. Lowndes County Probation will take over services beginning July 1.

The budget will also include a slight increase in fines and forfeitures, Slaughter said. 

He said the budget was originally $6 million over budget, but county staff managed to get that number down to a balanced budget.

“We’re very, very proud of this budget and it will provide the service that the citizens have come to expect from the county,” Slaughter said. 

The county builds its budget off of its tax digest that will come out in late July. If the digest is less than the county expected, Slaughter said the county might need to increase property taxes.

Based off everything they have seen, however, he said the county doesn’t expect a need to raise millage rates when the digest is released. The millage rate will be officially set later in August.

“But if the digest comes back bigger than we expected, then we will see an increase in revenue,” Slaughter said.

The chairman said this budget is more of a continuation of services, with a few exceptions, from last year’s budget. No departments received a significant increase in funding for this year, he said.

After all the departments submitted their requests, the budget was $6 million over budget. He said the board then cut that down and separated the “wants” from the “needs” of each department.

“We were able to get the needs taken care of, so that’s where we are at with a balanced budget,” Slaughter said. 

The full county budget is available at the county website, http://www.lowndescounty.com.

Thomas Lynn is a government and education reporter for The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be reached at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256