After finalizing Walker County's 2015 budget, Sole Commissioner Bebe Heiskell said she is going to do what it takes to manage the county's finances better.
Heiskell recently raised the property tax by 3 mils in order to close the gap of an unbalanced budget. Though unpopular, Heiskell's next task, setting the budget that reflects the need of the tax increase, was just as difficult, she said.
"We've done all we can. Our money isn't going as far as it used to," Heiskell said. "Prices for things (like construction) have gone up in the past five years."
While the 2015 budget includes personnel raises for the Sheriff's Office and salaries for state-mandated tax assessors, Walker County has to continue to be smart with its money, she stressed.
The Cedar Grove Fire Station was slated to be torn down and replaced with a fire station and community center combination, similar to the one at Mineral Springs.
Heiskell said she put a request for bids out last month, but most of them came back to be more expensive than what she wanted to pay.
"The bids returned were all close to each other, like $1.8 million, but I want to look at other options," she said. "I need to spread this money out between projects better and I think we could get it for less."
The project's funding will come out of Special Local Option Sales Tax the county collects, she said, and a pool that also includes improvements projects to the Hinkle Fire Station and Mt. Pleasant Fire Station.
Heiskell is planning to instead renovate the Cedar Grove Fire Station to bring it up to code and build a separate community center next door to it, she said.
In other news, Heiskell announced that the Walker County Fair at Mountain Cove Farms generated around $100,000 from gate ticket sales, sponsorships and vendors.
"We're not totally sure how it shook out yet, but it's a little more money than we thought," she said. "We'll do better next year and it'll just get bigger and better."