MONROE — No members of the public spoke Nov. 10 as the Green County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing on the proposed 2021 Green County budget.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Health and Social Services Department used a projected budget of $25,019,809, an increase of .34% over the allotted budget of $24,934,205. The proposed 2021 budget includes a 12.7% increase, putting the total 2021 Health and Social Services budget at $28,101,240.

The education budget fell 3.18% short of the $796,026 budget, with a projected 2020 expenditure of $770,674. The 2021 education budget, however, will see an increase of 3.41%, putting the total at $823, 187. A $795,038 tax levy will be needed for the 2021 budget. In 2020, the tax levy was 3.42% below that at $768,753.

As stay-at-home orders and heightened travel caution arose throughout the country, Green County’s Community Development department, which includes the county’s tourism department, will see a 63.63% decrease in funding in 2021. A large portion of the change, $1,217,030, can be attributed to the closing of the county’s revolving loan fund. Per state requirement, the funds have been paid back.

However, the department’s budget decrease cannot only be credited to the closing of the loan fund. In 2020, the Community Development budget was $237,378. The 2020 projected expenditure is only $191,546, a decrease of 19.31%. The 2021 allotted budget will fall even below the 2020 expenditure, with a budget of $184,066, a decrease of 22.46%. 

In other matters, the board:

●  heard from Green County Human Services Director Daniel Williams who discussed the county’s companion pet program of lifelike robotic animals as well as opioid abuse in the county.

●   approved an out-of-state travel request from Sheriff Dan Skatrud to send a deputy to a Less Lethal Instructor course in Joplin, Missouri in April.