The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday gave official approval to a Fiscal Year 2027 General Fund Budget of $49.0 million, up by 7.2 percent from the original Fiscal Year 2026 Budget of $45.7 million
The Board also approved a new fee schedule for county services that includes a 3.6 percent increase in the basic water rate for residential customers, a 3.5 percent increase for commercial water customers, and a 4.8 percent increase in the base sewer rate for both residential and commercial customers.
The fee schedule also includes a new minimum tipping fee for bulk household waste and leaf and limb disposal of $20, up from $12 in the Fiscal Year 2026, which ends on June 30.
The General Fund Budget is part of the total budget for the county, which includes spending by the Water Resources Department, a self-supporting Enterprise Fund, and spending of Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax and Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenues.
The total Fiscal Year 2027 Budget for the county is $85.5 million, up by 2.1 percent from the $83.7 million Fiscal Year 2026 Budget.
The Board approved the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget on Tuesday without discussion after no citizens commented on the budget at two Public Hearing held before the vote.
In other action on Tuesday, the Board approved a request by the owner of 2.0 acres at the corner of Rockinwood Drive and U.S. 441 to eliminate the required buffer between that property and the adjoining acreage owned by Athens Academy. The Board also appointed citizens to five county advisory boards.
At the beginning of the meeting, Board Vice Chair Amrey Harden, standing in for Chair John Daniell, invited citizens to attend a Town Hall Meeting at 6 p.m. on June 16 at the Oconee County Administrative Building, 7635 Macon Highway, north of Watkinsville.
Budget
County Finance Director Melissa Butler did not go through the details of the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget on Tuesday, saying nothing had changed from her presentations on May 5 and May 19.
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| Braswell Before Board 6/2/2026 |
The bulk of the $3.3 million increase in General Fund spending in the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget is for Public Safety, which includes $3.1 million for the county’s new Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Department.
The General Fund Budget is balanced, with new revenue coming from ambulance fees generated by the EMS operation projected at $1.5 million, $400,000 in increased property tax collections, $437,000 from increased Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) collections, and a $311,959 increase in other taxes, included sales taxes on auto purchases.
The budget Braswell approved by the Board does not specify a millage rate for generation of the property tax revenue. That rate won’t be set until the Tax Digest is computed after the start of the new Fiscal Year on July 1.
Board of Commissioners Chair Daniell said last month when the budget was released that he expects no change in the current millage rate. That rate is 4.184 for the unincorporated parts of the county and 5.154 for the incorporated areas.
At the meeting on Tuesday, the Board approved, on the recommendation of Jaron Queen, EMS Director for the county, the appointment of Dr. Brendan Hawthorn to serve as Medical Director for the county EMS system.
The Board also approved, at Queen’s recommendation, a pharmacy agreement with Add Rx for the EMS operation.
Variance Request
Rockinwood SRH LLC was asking the Board to allow it to eliminate the required buffer between the 2.0 acre lot it owns at the intersection of Rockinwood Drive and U.S. 441 and Athens Academy.
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| Representative Drawing Rockinwood Office Building |
The county rezoned the property in 1990 from residential to Office Institutional Professional use, but the property remains undeveloped.
Rockinwood SRH acquired the property in June of 2025, according to county tax records, and plans to construct a two-story building with 17,940 square feet of space on the property. Access will be from Rockinwood Drive.
The Oconee County planning staff recommended that the variance be reduced from 25 feet to 10 feet.
Brad Stephens, 2034 Spartan Estates Drive, one of the owners of Rockinwood SRH, said he did not think reducing the buffer entirely would adversely affect the neighboring property, which is used by Athens Academy for a baseball field.
In the end, the Board sided with Stephens and granted Rockinwood SRH the variance to eliminate entirely the buffer.
Appointments
The Board appointed Scarlett Mitchell, a retired teacher, and Karin Myhre, a faculty member at the University of Georgia, to the Oconee County Library Board of Trustees.
Five people had applied for the two openings.
The Board appointed Vivian Ezeh, a University of Georgia faculty member, Simon Owino, a research scientist, and Fran Leathers, Customer Success Manager at Liberty Vote, to the Oconee County Animal Services Advisory Board.
Five people had applied for that appointment. Leathers currently serves on the Board.
The Board reappointed Rev. Joseph Nunnally to the Family and Children's Services Board, which he now chairs. Only one other person had applied for that Board.
The Board appointed Rodney Mauricio, Kelly Dolvin, Shweta Doshi, Tommy Malcom, and Robert Legg to the Keep Oconee Beautiful Commission.
Mauricio is a faculty member at the University of Georgia, Dolvin is a learning strategist, Doshi is a data engineer, Malcom is a teacher, and Legg is retired. All currently serve on the Board.
Ten persons applied for appointment to the Commission.
Finally, the Board reappointed Greg Wilson, Associate Director of the Carl Vinson Institute at the University of Georgia, TJ Stephens, a business owner, and Dean Bright, a realtor, to the Tourism and Visitors Bureau.
Six people applied for appointment to the Bureau.
Video
The video below is on the county’s YouTube Channel.
The meeting begins at 3:40 in the video.
Discussion of the variance request begins at 9:50 in the video.
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