By Ray King
Jefferson County ended the year 2020 having collected more than $1.3 million dollars over the amount collected in 2019, according to the financial highlights report presented during committee meetings of the Quorum Court Tuesday.
At the same time, the county spent just over $6.5 million less last year than it did in 2019.
The report, from County Treasurer Vonysha Goodwin showed total receipts in 2020 were $90,913,055.86 which was $1,338,752.80 more than the $89.056,110.87 collected in 2019.
Goodwin said that even with the Coronavirus pandemic, which shut down or significantly reduced a number of businesses, sales taxes received from the state did not drop as many had expected.
“People were still out shopping,” she said. “They were still out buying things.”
One of the things people were spending money on was on items to improve their residences.
“I attribute spending on things like that to account for some of it and of course there was the casino money,” Goodwin said.
She also said revenue from the casino, while not as much as the county had expected because it was shut down for a while and is currently operating at less than full capacity also helped the increase in revenue.
On the spending side, the county spent $89.110.87 in 2019 and $82,541,397.69 last year. That was a decrease of $6,514,123.18.
Goodwin attributed the decline in spending to programs implemented by County Judge Gerald Robinson, who implemented work force reductions which included county employees being furloughed or participating in shared work programs, and a hiring freeze which is still in effect.
She also said the county’s elected officials did their part by making efforts to reduce their spending
As much as possible.
“We let them know what the situation was, and they just responded,” she said.
While efforts to reduce spending are continuing, Goodwin said she is beginning to see a little light at the end of the tunnel.
