Floyd County Annual Report 2017 (combined)

MESSAGE FROM THE FLOYD COUNTY MANAGER
Jamie A. McCord
County Manager
(706) 291-5110
mccordj@floydcountyga.org
The Floyd County Board of Commissioners appointed
Jamie McCord County Manager in 2013. McCord
previously served twenty years between the Georgia
Department of Transportation and the City of Rome.
The Floyd County Manager is the administrative head
of County government and is responsible to the Board
for the proper and efficient administration of all affairs
of the County except as otherwise provided by law.
McCord holds a Master’s Degree in Business
Administration from Berry College and a Bachelor’s
Degree in Civil Engineering from Southern Poly. He is
a member of the International County Managers
Association (ICMA), the Georgia City/County
Manager’s Association (GCCMA), and previously
served as the President of the Georgia Chapter of the
American Public Works Association (APWA).
4
2017 FLOYD COUNTY ANNUAL REPORT
Floyd County saw many challenges and many
improvements to operations in 2017. In 2016, the County
ended with revenues above projections and expenditures
well under projections. We were also able to increase the
general fund balance by $2.3 million. With the Law
Enforcement Phase III Pay Plan complete in 2017 and
Phase I of the Correction Pay Plan scheduled to begin in
2018, employee retention improved. Floyd County was
able to finalize multiple joint agreements with the City of
Rome, reactivate the Rome-Floyd Land Bank Authority,
open an employee health/wellness clinic, as well as hire
several department head positions. Our General Fund’s
fund balance at the end of 2016 remained healthy at $15
million and debt service continued to be reduced. We were
able to adopt the 2018 budget in December. Challenges
still include unstable and unpredictable revenues due to
unfunded mandates and lack of information among other
factors out of our control.
Many of our 2013 SPLOST projects are substantially
underway, or were completed in 2017 with the new Animal
Control facility becoming fully operational and much
needed improvements to newly re-branded Forum River
Center. Four new playground installations were
completed. The Everett Springs Water System project was
awarded and construction began in December of 2017.
The citizens of Floyd County approved a new SPLOST
that will begin in April 2019 of over $63 million of
improvements with over 60% of voters approving. I think
this outcome demonstrated confidence in local government
elected officials and leadership.
The 2017 air show was by far the largest tourism event
with over 80,000 attendees at Richard B. Russell airport.
Georgia High School Association hosted both two
Championship Series for the first in Floyd County. The
Baseball Championship Series was played at State Mutual
Stadium, home of the Rome Braves and the Track Field
Championship was held at Berry College.
Three major announcements headlined Economic
Development activities in 2017 including Carlson
Precision in the South Floyd Industrial Park and a
redevelopment by Balta in the northern SR 53 corridor
of Floyd County. We have seen some improvements in
the economy with both residential and commercial
construction. Our sales tax revenues are virtually flat in
several areas and we continue to struggle to confirm the
reasons. While Floyd County had the smallest sales tax
increase in Northwest Georgia, we actually ended the
year with an increase of 1.3%. Some industry layoffs
are assumed to have had an effect, but we hope our
gains have offset the losses in 2017.
I am extremely proud of our departmental staff that have
been productive and proficient in managing County
business and look forward to continuing to improve our
services and delivery for all residents of Floyd County.
Sincerely,
Jamie A. McCord