By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
As the New Year approaches, the Barton County Commission had some cleaning up to do in its final meeting of 2022 Wednesday morning. Prior to the regular meeting, the governing body held a budget amendment hearing to welcome any comments from the public. With no comments, the commission approved amendments totaling $3,050,000 to affect five funds. County Director of Operations Matt Patzner explained why the amendments were necessary.
"This is all unanticipated revenue they took in this year," he said. "I believe they're running at about 95 percent of budget authority, so they're going to be cutting it pretty close by the end of the year. This is kind of accomplishing two things for us: it's making sure we don't have a budget violation before the end of the year, and it's also giving extra flexibility to make a transfer next year."
The health fund was amended by $250,000 to cover grant expenditures that were not anticipated when the 2022 budget was adopted. The solid waste fund was amended $800,000 for equipment replacement and maintenance that was anticipated for 2023. The 911 tax fund was amended $100,000 for similar reasons. The general fund and road and bridge funds were also amended.
"Amending the general fund budget will increase budget authority by 1.4 million to allow for the transfer of unanticipated revenue, and to preserve funds for future projects if deemed practical and necessary in the future," Patzner said. "Amending the road and bridge budget authority by 500,000 to cover additional purchases of aggregates and other consumable goods that are necessary for operations."
The funds will now stay in those budgets. More adjustments could be made during year-end transfers in May or June 2023.