The Lincoln County Board of Supervisorsvoted 5-0 Thursday morning to pass the proposed budget for the2011-12 year which starts at the end of the month.

    Not much has changed for the budget from previous years, accordingto County Administrator David Fields, who said the only real changeis the in the property tax levy for county schools.

    Because the school district’s assessed value for this year droppedfrom $90.8 million last year to just over $90 million, that millagerate will increase 1.22 mills, Fields said.

    The tax levy for the county will remain the same, at 49.69 mills,to combine with the new school rate of 51.72 for a total tax levymillage of 101.41.

    The total county and school expenditures budget for 2011-12 is$19,088,865, and the total revenues budget for county and school is$19,724,631.

    District One Supervisor the Rev. Jerry Wilson raised concern aboutthe advertisement the board had to run publicizing the new budgetand the increase in school millage rates. He said the wronginformation was communicated to the public that there would be anincrease in taxes they had to pay.

    Fields clarified that the language in the ad was confusing, butrequired by the state.

    However, he said, because of the 1.22 increase in school millage,people whose personal assessed value stayed the same or increasedwill pay more for the schools. There is no increase in the countymillage rate, so no additional taxes will have to be paid on thecounty.

    The amount of tax increase a person has to pay on the school sidedepends solely on the assessed value of that individual’s property,Fields emphasized.

    “We have to do the budget looking at countywide,” Fields said. “Wecan’t look at individuals or single districts. The millage ratewould increase or decrease anyway because it’s whether or notcounty-wide and school-wide assessed values go up or down.”

    In the end the board approved unanimously.

    The board covered some other matters at the public hearing afterthe budget was passed.

    Tax Assessor/Collector Nancy Jordan questioned the board about twoof her items that were tabled by the board at the previous boardmeeting on Sept. 6.

    “I just wanted to know if those items were going to be included inthe budget for this year,” Jordan said.

    The items she referred to were to hire an in-house appraiser and toprovide an expenditure for $3,000 license for residentialappraisals.

    “If you approve this budget now, and those aren’t included, how canthey be paid for?” Jordan asked.

    The supervisors upheld their decision at the previous board meetingto table the items until the next board meeting, Sept. 19, and hadno discussion on the matters.

    County engineer Ryan Holmes approached the board to requestemergency funds to replace about 140 feet of guard railing on abridge that was taken out earlier this week by an 18-wheeler.

    The bridge is located on Jackson-Liberty Road just north of Highway98, and Holmes pointed out that the curve is dangerous and a lot oftraffic comes over the bridge.

    “I need to get that rail up as soon as possible,” said DistrictFour Supervisor Doug Moak, in whose district the accidentoccurred.

    “I’ll pay for it out of my fund and hope for us to get reimbursed,”Moak said.

    The board approved for the replacement of the guard rail, whichHolmes estimated to cost between $7,000 and $7,500.

    Moak also requested purchasing a used engine for a dump truck thathe could not find a new engine for.

    “I want to try to get this paid on the current budget so that itwon’t hamper with the next one,” he said.

    The board approved buying the used engine from a source in Ohio.The engine will cost $11,140, according to Moak.

    At the conclusion of the public hearing, Fields and the supervisorsset a tentative date of Sept. 30 at 9 a.m. to hold a meeting tovote on year-end closing matters.

    The next regular board meeting will be Sept. 19 at 9 a.m. in theboardroom of the government complex.