Aiken County Council and officials will meet today to discuss the proposed fiscal year 2015-16 operating budget.
The 6 p.m. meeting is open to the public in the Sandlapper Room on the first floor of the Aiken County Government Center, 1930 University Parkway.
Council unanimously voted last week to approve the County's proposed $62.7 million budget, with an additional 2.4 millage increase on its first vote.
The budget must go through two more readings and a public hearing before Council can give final approval.
County officials are proposing a 2.4 millage increase to 72.3 mills from the current 69.9 mills, an increase that could bring in roughly $1.5 million to $1.6 million in revenue per year, they said.
A millage is the rate at which property taxes are charged based on property value. The increase would mean a $4 cost for every mill on a $100,000 valued home, and if approved, a homeowner would pay an additional $14.40 on a home valued at $150,000.
The millage isn't set by Council until September, and Council member Andrew Siders promised residents last week that before the budget's final vote, Council will look over "excess" expenses and tackle duplicate budget items in the 2015-16 budget.
County official said last week the 2015-16 budget was "largely defined" by two major events - the appropriation and "needed" salary adjustments for all County employees in fiscal year 2015 and the financial impact from the February 2014 ice storm.
That and added expenses, including emergency work done on the Langley Pond Dam, has taxed the County's reserve funds, County Administrator Clay Killian said. The County's capital reserve fund dropped from about $5.4 million in 2011 to $1.5 million now, he said, and the general reserve fund stands at approximately $7.6 million, $10 million from what it was two years ago.
Maayan Schechter is the local government reporter with Aiken Standard. An Atlanta native, she has a mass communications-journalism degree with the University of North Carolina Asheville. Follow her on Twitter @MaayanSchechter.
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