Hancock County Council: 2027 Budget Meeting Parts 1 & 2: 7/8/26

MEETING: Hancock County Council: 2027 Budget Meeting Parts 1 & 2

Date: 7-8-2026

Recorder: Cathy Cooper, Kiley Blalock

BACKGROUND:

Link to agenda includes timed alphabetical list of specific agenda items.  Only those agenda items that involved significant discussion and debate are detailed in the summary.  If an agenda item was routinely approved without significant change, it is not included in the summary.  View the meeting recording for more information. 

https://www.hancockin.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_07082026-569

Budget Meeting Part 1

Summary note: The theme of the meeting was fiscal restraint. Council members repeatedly talked about avoiding new hires, keeping future budgets sustainable, and questioning budget increases before approving them

8am-8:15: Public hearing

Routine $6.8 M General Obligation (GO) bond and fund approvals. No public comments and all passed.

Two bond ordinances hadn't officially been voted on. They corrected them and approved both

8:15 am Council discussion of 2027 budget items included review of stipulations sent to all department heads:

·         No new positions in 2027

·         9% increase in group insurance

·         3% raise for full-time employees, dept. heads and elected officials

·         $1500 raise for part-time employees, dept. heads and elected officials.

Positions previously added in 2026 will be considered, including five new court officers and two new jail navigators.

General fund budget needs to be reduced by $800K to compensate for lost revenue and to avoid depleting the general fund over the next several years.  Effects of SB1 reduced property taxes are having an impact on funding.  Reluctant to automatically respond by increasing local income taxes.  Municipal Unit Strategic Taskforce (MUST) will be meeting in near future to address multiple issues related to revenue loss. 

Discussion on tightening the county’s work from home policy.  Consensus is to limit this to only emergencies and extenuating circumstances.

Bernie Harris IT and Dusty Wicker are leaving at end of year, so there will a need for new IT personnel

8:30 am Review of individual department budgets. 

Most department budgets moved through quickly with only a few questions.

8:40 am Building Department

Expected to become self-funded through permit fees in 2027.

Action: Building Dept. budget approved

9:00 am Commissioners budget (Gary McDaniel) lengthy discussion of multiple line items including:

·         attorney fees which have increased due to need for specialized services

·         parttime veteran service officer who has increased hours and compensation

·         non-profits shifted to a grants process to be reviewed individually annually

·         mental health support levy

·         major increase is insurance costs which is beyond government’s control

Action: Commissioners’ budget approved. 

9:40 am Cumulative Capital Development (CCD)

Covers all departments. 

·         Sheriff’s Department: Significant discussion on the line items including drones (leased), body & car cameras, Flock cameras, new car equipment, other equipment.

No action taken. 

·         Coroner Department.  Requests for new vehicle that is designed for transporting bodies and other equipment.  $117K

·         Discussion on vehicle requests from several departments including leasing vs purchasing

No action taken today.  May be deferred to later meeting.

9:50 am Coroner. The coroner’s office has historically been underfunded and has seen an increase in cases this year.

Currently coroner and all staff are PT.  Request to increase PT hours but council requires keeping hours below threshold providing benefits.

Goal to have coroner be full time but wait until next election in two years.

Action: Budget approved with some modifications.

10 am Courts. The council held a lengthy discussion about the pros and cons of hiring a court manager, a position that will be required by state statute once the county’s population reaches 100,000. Judge Sirk supported the position, while Davis and Marshall opposed it because it should ideally be filled by an attorney and the proposed $25,000 salary may not be sufficient. There was also discussion on adding a juvenile court magistrate.

Action: Passed court budget minus the juvenile court magistrate which will paid by the State once population reaches 100,000.  Passed $60K position for FT court manager after shifting line items. 

10:30 am E911 Center John Jokantas.  Lengthy discussion on this budget not being sustainable and needing a new position in 2027.  Resolved by shifting $100K budget item for one time purchase to Food and Beverage. This freed up funds for the budget.    

Action: Budget passed.

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Budget Meeting Part 2

Summary note: Part 2 centered mainly on the prosecutor’s budget. Council members generally agreed that additional help was needed, but they struggled to fund it while keeping the overall budget under control. By comparison, the remaining items moved through quickly.

1:15 pm Probation.  Approved after removing one vacant probation officer position to save money. They said if caseloads increase later, they may ask for it back. Probation also talked about recovering more unpaid probation fees through the state's tax intercept program. Most of the remaining probation funds were approved with very little discussion.

1:30 pm Prosecutor

·         Prosecutor's budget the biggest discussion of the afternoon.

·         Prosecutor requested two new positions: a juvenile deputy prosecutor and a legal assistant/paralegal.

·         Several council members agreed the positions were needed, especially with growing juvenile cases, but were concerned about the county's finances.

·         The juvenile prosecutor position was approved, but the legal assistant position was removed from the budget for now.

·         Council discussed possibly revisiting funding later depending on other budget cuts.

·         A lot of discussion centered around balancing public safety needs with the reality that the county is trying to cut roughly $800,000 from the budget.

·         Several members questioned whether one of the recently approved courthouse security positions could eventually be sacrificed to help fund the prosecutor's office instead.

1:45 Public Defender

Budget discussion focused on salary parity with the prosecutor's office and justification for a higher paid paralegal position. They also briefly discussed the office's remote work policy and concerns about offices being open to the public.

Most of the remaining department budgets (Recorder, Soil & Water, Solid Waste, Surveyor, Tourism, Sheriff, Auditor, etc.) moved much faster than the prosecutor discussion and were largely approved with only minor questions.

Council approved several county funds at the end of the meeting, including Rainy Day, Economic Development, Food & Beverage, debt service funds, and Jury Pay.