Commissioners hear about budget
Wednesday, January 23, 2008 11:55 AM EST article source
Lawrence County Commissioners have not had a budget hearing in a decade or longer so when they did have one Tuesday, it was well-attended.Seats that normally set empty during regular commission meetings were full and some chairs were brought in for the overflow.
Commissioners said at the end of the hearing they would take a couple days to digest the volume of information they’d received before making any decisions about where to go from here.
Each officeholder was given time to discuss with commissioners the needs of his or her office and how the county’s budget crunch will impact its operations.
Some came with armed with suggestions they thought might help save money.
Sheriff Tim Sexton said he thought greater use of home confinement could cut jail costs—a big chunk of the county’s general fund money is spent each year on jail operations — and he suggested that 911 and sheriff’s office dispatching could be combined under his office’s umbrella.
He has made this suggestion in the past but the idea never got out of initial discussion stage. He said this was not a personal attack on current 911 operations, just an effort to save money.
Sexton explained his dispatchers perform more duties than just radio communications (some serve as jail matrons, clerks and internal security systems monitors) making it impossible for him to just close his dispatch center.
A better choice, he said, would be for 911 to join him in his office.
“I don’t want Lonnie (Best, 911 director) to lose his job. I would be glad to have Lonnie run it,” Sexton said.
Karen Matney Simmons, chairperson for the board of elections, suggested that she could save some of the $105,000 budgeted for elections day temporary workers by having county employees help as poll workers, runners and other aides.
Simmons said one-third of that office’s staff was cut in 2002 and she didn’t know how it could operate with less than the four full-timers it has now.
“We don’t have a lot of fat,” Simmons said. “We have a pretty lean budget.”
Others pointed out their offices, though funded in part by the county, also get state and federal dollars as matching funds and perform a variety of services that are more essential that what people may initially think.
“We do handle two mandated programs for the county. We handle the floodplain and storm water programs which are mandated by the E.P.A.,” Lawrence Soil and Water Conservation District Manager Peggy Reynolds said. The county’s building permits and 911 addressing systems are also operated out of the soil and water office.
“It is unbelievable what you do for us,” Lawrence County Commissioner Doug Malone conceded.
Still others expressed concerns about how a proposed 20 percent budget cut would affect their office.
Treasurer Stephen Dale Burcham said it appeared to him that his salaries line item had been cut more than 20 percent and said the amount budgeted for supplies — $500—is not enough to pay for state mandated mailings, such as tax bills, which costs approximately $15,000 a year and publication of various announcements such as delinquent tax lists.
He said while some may think his office has a seasonal workload—just twice a year when tax times comes—in fact, workers stay busy throughout the year.
“We have implemented some new programs to collect delinquent taxes and we’ve been very aggressive with it,” Burcham said. “This is one thing that brings more money into county coffers. It is an area that has been neglected in the past and we’ve tried to take positive steps. …
“We are one of the smaller offices in the county, but we are willing to pull our share.”
The budget hearing drew more than just officeholders. Some of the folks who filled a chair were simply concerned taxpayers. Robert Payne, said he was “just listening.”
Paul Carmon, a Democrat who is running for county commissioner this year, said he wanted to know if the county is spending its money wisely.
“I just wanted to see what everyone had to say,” he said.