Bladen County Commissioners received a monthly financial update at their Tuesday evening meeting.
Nearly 75% of the Ad Valorem Property Taxes for the current fiscal year had been collected as of December 31, 2016. $16,240,679, or 74.78% of property taxes had been collected after the first six months of the 2015-2016 fiscal year. A year ago, $14.2 million had been collected after the first 6 months. However, it should be noted that the Board of Commissioners increased taxes about 10% to cover the cost of a new detention center and to improve EMS services.
Overall, revenues collected as of December 31, 2016 totaled 57.25% of the current budget. Sales tax collections lag due to the process. Sales tax is collected locally, sent to the NC Department of Revenue, then transferred to the county and local municipalities. As of December 31, the county had received 28.65% of sales taxes budgeted, in line with previous years.
Expenditures overall were below budget at 47.91%. The adopted budget was $46,848,182, that includes funds from the state and federal government for several agencies, including DSS and Education. And, expenditures for the detention center will increase when construction begins.
Cash and cash investments total $24,843,642 at the end of December, 2015. $19,031,720 of the total was in the General Fund.
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