The Hall County Board of Commissioners voted in favor of a spending plan Thursday that promises to transform county recreation services, closes two public libraries and dismantles the public works, planning and building inspections departments.

The decision also means another 25 county workers will lose their jobs, most of them public works employees lost to an effort to privatize much of the department's services.

A property tax rate charged to fund general government operations will stay the same, however.

The budget, approved by a 4-1 vote some four hours from the start of the new fiscal year, includes a $120,000 cut to the Hall County Community Service Center and

eliminates local funding for the Department of Family and Children Services.

Chairman Tom Oliver was the only board member to oppose the $85.6 million spending plan.

He said the plan other commissioners approved lacked foresight for recreation and denied county workers benefits most government employees enjoy.

He also said he could not vote in favor of a plan that cut funding to human service agencies after residents who needed those services showed up in mass on behalf of those agencies.

"I think this proposed budget will do more harm to Hall County than any budget in the history of Hall County," Oliver said before commissioners voted.

"This is going to do more harm than we can build back in years and years."

Aside from other cuts, the budget approved Thursday includes a 5 percent reduction in funding for all departments as well as cutting $500,000 for overtime costs in the sheriff's office.

It closes satellite motor vehicle tag offices in North Hall and South Hall by September and it moves employees in rented buildings to empty offices downtown.

Bridging the budget gap also meant fees for building inspections and county review of development plans will rise in the coming months to help those departments raise revenues by $190,000.

Even commissioners who approved the plan weren't completely happy with the outcome.

Commissioner Ashley Bell disapproved of the cuts the plan made to the Community Service Center.

Commissioner Billy Powell was dissatisfied with the lack of reserves for unexpected costs. Commissioner Craig Lutz was disappointed the vote couldn't have been unanimous.

"This budget's got a long way to go to make everybody comfortable," Powell said before the vote.

Before Thursday's final budget vote, Bell asked Powell to remove the cuts to the center, which serves as the umbrella agency to Hall Area Transit, the Senior Life Center and Meals on Wheels.

Powell didn't agree to restore the funding. Bell said the cuts could have been avoided.

The cuts are likely to result in a domino effect of funding losses for its programs. A cost-sharing agreement between the county and Gainesville means the city could cut its funds. State and federal grants also hinge on both governments' cooperation.

City officials will likely take the next two to three months to determine how they will be impacted, City Manager Kip Padgett said. Community Service Center employees work for the city.

"I just think that it was a very ill-advised decision that I think's going to have repercussions that are going to cost more than $120,000," Bell said. "So even if you like the Red Rabbit (bus service) or not, or Meals on Wheels or not, you're going to end up paying for it, either way. ... And I just don't think it was a wise decision to do right now with such haste in the final hour."

But there were also last-minute decisions Bell could not approve. In the final hours before Thursday night's meeting, Powell tried to curry enough favor for at least a partial roll-up of the county tax rate.

A roll-up is not legally considered a tax increase, because it only allows officials to raise tax rates enough to offset a loss in revenues caused by declining property values.

Bell said there wasn't enough time to realistically consider the proposal, however, and Powell never presented it publicly.

Like Lutz, Commissioner Scott Gibbs couldn't agree to the tax hike. All four commissioners agreed to a roll-up in a separate tax rate for fire and emergency services funds.

"The voters and taxpayers who I represent, I don't think they can pay anymore," Gibbs said. "Personally, I can't pay anymore. I'm paying all I can pay."

Each of the four commissioners said they were pleased with the group's ability to work together and compromise in the final hours.

"You vote on budgets, you can get 85 percent of what you think should be in there and you've got to call it a hard day's work," Bell said.

But as they stood together; Oliver stood alone.

The chairman raised the only hand in favor of his proposal to raise taxes in lieu of the cuts approved Thursday.

His plan, which included a tax increase of at least 1.41 mills, would have spared most of the cuts approved Thursday — though funding for the library system would have stayed the same — and it also restored contributions into employee retirement accounts.

Oliver's proposal also did not rely on county reserves to balance the budget, while the budget passed Thursday uses $708,650 of that reserve fund to make ends meet.

Oliver said the cuts proposed Thursday didn't seem sustainable. Aside from his opposition to cuts to employees and human service agencies, Oliver said he didn't see how a plan to reconfigure the recreation department could be carried out thoughtfully in only two months time.

"After what you've heard today, I can't do that," Oliver said. "That's not my system."

The fiscal year begins today and ends June 30, 2012.