Madden presented the updated budget following a public hearing on June 2nd. He told the board that the ad valorem tax rate would remain 80.5 cents per $100 worth of property.
"The budget is balanced, it is conservative, and it meets the priorities of this board without a tax increase," he said.
Funding for emergency response
One key addition was the expansion of funding for Columbus County's quick response vehicles, or QRVs. QRVs, usually staffed by one person, provide emergency medical care to patients without transporting them to a hospital. Columbus County started its program in 2023 as a way of bridging the gap in EMS services in its more rural areas.
The first iteration of the budget cut funding for the program. But the version passed by commissioners Monday extends the program's funding through January 19, 2026. During the budget hearing, several county employees spoke out in support of this move.
"When I heard about Mr. Madden's proposal that we can continue the QRV until January, I had a sigh of relief," said county EMS medical director Dr. Peter Chambers. "It's great, and I support that, but we got to do everything we can do to continue that QRV program."
Madden estimated the annual cost of the QRV program was $800,000.
The adjusted budget also includes a base salary increase for Columbus County's 911 telecommunicators. The new base pay is $44,116. Madden said that he hopes a "more competitive rate" will help recruit and retain employees.
Job cuts
Still, the expansion in funding for emergency medical services came at a cost: specifically, 24 county positions. Most of those positions, Madden said, were vacant or would soon be made vacant due to retirement.
"Let me just say: out of 24, it only impacts eight actual employees within an organization of nearly 600 people," he said Monday. "Now, we don't want to impact anyone's livelihoods or careers or whatnot, but in order to be able to accommodate the requests that have been suggested, we will need to increase the number of positions to be removed from the budget by 24."
Madden would not elaborate on which employees would be affected; simply that the county would "follow its existing policy" in handling layoffs. He anticipates these measures will save the county $747,000.
This budget also does not offer a cost-of-living adjustment in wages to current employees. Instead, the board of commissioners is opting to "postpone" any discussion of the increase til January 19th.
More to come
In Columbus County, property taxes must be paid by January 5th. Madden explained that at the meeting following the deadline — January 19 — commissioners would hear a report from the finance department outlining the amount of tax collected. From there, they could make a decision on whether to extend the QRV program or introduce cost-of-living increases for employees.
The board voted to pass the budget 4-2. Commissioner Chris Smith was out sick, and commissioners Brent Watts and Giles "Buddy" Byrd dissented. Both Watts and Byrd voiced support for extending the QRV program but took issue with other parts of the budget.
"There's too many 'ifs' that's got to come in to get us to [January 19]," said Watts. "I don't like to spend money on projections, and this is what we're doing here. To some degree, we're projecting a certain amount coming from this place and that place, and I feel like we should have a solid budget, period."
Byrd told Madden he would have liked to see an even lower budget. He also pushed for more funding for county parks and rec.
"I'm 100% beside QRVs and everything that we've agreed on," he said. "I think … there's a few things that could be cut that, maybe, that could have got the QRVs longer than what we're doing and save us some more money. I'm a very conservative person, so I'm kind of cheap."
Columbus County's budget for fiscal year 2024-2025 was $112 million. The year before was $131 million.
Click here to read this year's budget in full.
