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Charlotte County supervisors will be asked to amend their adopted budget, adding $11.5 million more in funding requests, when they meet later this week. County Administrator Daniel Witt sent out a memo to the group, referring to the requested changes. 

“Every year there are amendments to the adopted budget as it begins July 1 and there are bills still to be paid for the previous year,” Witt wrote in the memo. “In this year’s case, unexpected expenses occurred after adoption of the budget.” 

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 County supervisors asked to add

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. 

“They have been managing with one boiler for quite some time, but that unit has died and the office will need heat this winter,” Witt wrote.

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 comes 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. It had been hosted by an unsecured operation, meaning that it would be easier to hack. 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. 

To be clear, these are requests at this point. Charlotte County supervisors will have to vote to amend the budget and move these funds around when they meet on Wednesday, Sept. 11.