Georgetown County
County continues to save up for a very rainy day
Georgetown County has almost twice as much money in its “rainy day” account as required by its own rules, $29 million, according to an audit released last month. The amount is 76 percent of the county’s general fund expenditures. County Council in 2024 passed an ordinance requiring that it keep a fund balance of 40 percent or $15 million, whichever was greater.
“It seems to be working,” Council Chairman Clint Elliott said.
Since 2020, the county’s reserve, known as the “unassigned fund balance,” has grown from $10 million.
“That number is very important to me,” Council Member Bob Anderson said. “I’m conservative, but that can be overdone.”
There is additional money in the reserve that is either assigned or cannot be spent for other reasons. Those amounts totaled another $2.1 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30.
The total general fund reserve grew by $5.2 million because the county took in more money than it spent. Its final budget for fiscal 2025 anticipated a $67,000 loss. Instead, it came out with a $9 million surplus. About $4 million was transferred between funds, the rest went into the reserve.
In the private sector, Anderson said, budgets don’t change unless the work changes. “We don’t do that,” he added. “The budget’s all over the place all the time.”
At a recent council meeting he pressed Alan Thompson, whose firm performed the annual audit, to provide more information about the unassigned fund balance in future audits. Thompson said there is a chart in the audit that highlights that.
Anderson said part of his concern with the increasing fund balance is that the county needs to improve employee pay to hire and retain staff.
One reason cited in the audit for the surplus in fiscal 2025 was salaries and benefits coming in over $600,000 below budget.
The growth of the fund balance coincides with the tenure of Angela Christian as county administrator. “That was something that was very important to me,” she said. “It is preparing for the day that you will have some emergency.”
The county’s ability to raise its reserves past the minimum “is an excellent thing,” she said. “It goes to the strength of our financial condition.”
It also prepares the county to deal with future needs, such as a $5 million to $7 million replacement of the emergency radio system and an expansion of emergency medical services that Christian said she expects to outline to the council this year.
While the council adopted the $15 million or 40 percent rule in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a ransomware attack and storm damage to the courthouse, Elliott said it has become more important as the federal government explores changes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“We’re more worried about FEMA, trying to keep cash on hand,” he said. “We’re waiting for the first test case. It’s rainy day, really and truly.”
