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By Cole Trahan

The Troup County Board of Commissioners convened for a meeting on Tuesday to discuss a proposed budget of $45,415,800 for fiscal year 2022. The board is scheduled to adopt the budget on June 8.

A total of 80.81% of revenue for the budget would come from taxes, 8.16% would come from charges for services, 4.01% would come from fines and forfeitures, 3.48% would come from intergovernmental sources, 2.04% would come from miscellaneous sources, 0.82% would come from licenses and permits, 0.37% would come from other financing sources, 0.2% would come from contributions and donations, and 0.11% would come from investment income.

As for how the money would be spent, 46% of funds are budgeted to be spent on public safety, 15.1% would be used for judicial purposes, 13.99% would be used for general government purposes, 10.41% would be used for culture and recreation, 7.98% would be used for public works, 3% would be used for other financing sources/uses, 2.45% would be used for housing and development, and 1.07% would be used for health and welfare.

One of the topics discussed during the meeting was how quickly Troup County rebounded from the pandemic.

“I was talking to someone actually this morning about just our community versus other places in America,” said County Manager Eric Mosley. “LaGrange has had a much quicker rebound, and Troup County had a much quicker rebound than a lot of communities because, you know, we’ve lived conservatively for many years, and so it was easier to rebound because we had that nest egg, that cushion to fall back on.”

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 was also discussed. According to Mosley, Troup County received $6.7 million in its first round of funding. CFO Sonya Conroy said the county is waiting for federal guidance on how to use the money. Money from the act has to be spent by 2024.

Mosley said some of the money may be used to address revenue shortfalls from last year, as well as to fund public safety salaries and benefits.

“We’re also looking at public safety and… public safety salaries and benefits, ones that are specifically geared toward emergency response, COVID-19-type issues,” Mosley said.