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Charlotte County supervisors approved all the requested changes to the budget during their Wednesday, Sept. 11 meeting. The amendments, which passed by a unanimous vote, add $11.5 million in funding requests. 

The only concern raised during the discussion involved where part of the money would come from to pay for all this. 

“There is $93,466 that will be necessary to come out of our reserves,” Supervisor Hazel Smith pointed out. 

Charlotte County Administrator Daniel Witt acknowledged that was true. He added the money was needed, both to pay bills from the previous fiscal year and deal with some unexpected expenses that occurred. 

Now the first 10 requests are what’s known as “carry-forward” funds. These were all items approved in the budget but not paid for as yet. Combined, that adds up to $499, 421.16 and includes things like buying the trash truck used for hauling dumpsters to and from the recycling centers. Also included are the sheriff’s National Night Out expenses, operating supplies for both Project Lifesaver and the D.A.R.E. program. It also includes operating supplies for both the federal and state asset forfeiture programs. The trash truck, Witt pointed out, was paid for with American Rescue Plan Act funds, while the rest was paid for through money in the fund balance. To be clear, this is money already set aside for these items. But it needs to be approved and then the bill has to be paid. 

Charlotte supervisors make repairs 

Now three of the requested amendments are items not included in this year’s budget. First, as we’ve reported on the problem before, involves paying for new boilers/furnaces in the clerk’s office. 

“We’ve been limping along on one boiler that’s since died,” Witt told supervisors, pointing out the county can’t go without it, as the office will need heat this winter. 

As part of this, the county staff found it cheaper to switch from oil to natural gas, and so they got prices on the furnaces, a new fuel tank and removal of the oil tank. The other two unplanned expenses come in the form of information technology (IT) services. The county was billed two payments of $21,683 to move the sheriff’s office email system. 

“All of their emails were on unsecured dotcom email addresses, which opened the county up to attacks,” Witt explained. 

To solve that problem, the county had to pay a company to come in and move that operation to a secured system. 

“With all the cybersecurity threats, this had to be done,” Witt wrote. 

Paying the county’s share

Other parts of the amendments are simply transfers, moving grant funding into its proper place. That includes more than $52,000 in grant funds for the sheriff’s office, as well as more than $264,000 in carryover for the school district from the 1% sales tax.