Decatur County CPA Perry Henry is working with the Board of Commissioners and new administrator Alan Thomas to push the county in a positive direction financially.

The county released its budget information for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015 and has laid out a draft of their budget for fiscal year 2016.

According to the budget document, Decatur County had $27,138,755 in total revenues in the year ending June 30, 2015, and has recorded a total expenditure of $27,905,355 from all departments.

Henry said while there is a little bit of a deficit there, there are some timing differences between grant money coming in and expenditures going out.

For fiscal year 2016, Decatur County expects to collect $15.5 million in total revenues from sources including property taxes, sales and miscellaneous other taxes, fees and fines, licenses and permits, charges for services, investment earnings and other miscellaneous items.

Total expenditures for all departments are projected at $14.7 million dollars.

Henry said Thomas was playing it tough in laying out the budget for the next year.

“There’s a reason why when he left (in 2005), there was $15 million to $18 million in the bank,” Henry said. “He was tough and didn’t let anything get past him. I believe we are going in the right direction.”

Thomas served as Decatur County administrator from 1989 to 2005, and is often praised for the amount of money in the counties bank account and low debt during his tenure.

The general government budget for FY 2016 is $1.75 million. The judicial budget is $1.58 million, with public safety budgeted at $7.86 million. Public works will receive $2.97 million, health and welfare will receive $115,400, parks and recreation is budgeted for $12,000 and housing and development is set for a $438,162 budget.

Various expenditures budgeted include the golf course ($104,851), the water and sewer facilities ($192,909), the Decatur County Correctional Institute ($302,712). EMS ($184,456) and the airport fund ($82,680).

Henry said this next year would be particularly painful with the county dealing with millage rate increases due to the hospital and recreation authority, but the county as a whole is making a move toward the upswing.

“The landfill fund is showing an excess this year but we really needed to begin rebuilding our cash reserves so we can fund closure/post-closure cost when that day comes,” Perry said.