Budget & Finance Committee - Regular Meeting

Okay. It is June the 4th. It is 4.30. This is a budget and finance. Call the meeting to order. And we've done the roll call. And everybody signed in. I'll make a motion to approve the agenda.

I'll make a motion to approve agenda.

Second. Motion by Hirschman. Second by Stubblefield. Any questions, discussions, or additions? Okay, all those in favor on the agenda by aye. Aye. Okay, public comments. All right, we're at public comments and I have one person and that is the sheriff that has signed in. Yes, sir. And make sure your microphone is on. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Sheriff Parton, Coffey County Sheriff's Office. I wanted to address you for just a minute after watching your last budget and finance meeting, I felt obligated that I needed to come back and possibly answer any questions that you might have. In my 34 years of being affiliated with Coffey County Government, in whatever position or fashion I've been in, I've been in hundreds of these budget and finance meetings, county commission meetings, across the gauntlet of all kinds of things in those years. But I've not had or seen in my tenure or in my observations another elected official meddle in another elected official's office in questioning their budgets. I've thought about just let it go, but I can't do that. But I heard some babbling up here the other night by another elected official and called me out about hoarding money Now I know all of you committee members understand our budget and understand what's going on, but it's the folks on that camera up there that might not understand how we operate and why it would look like the sheriff and or the sheriff's office is hoarding money. I want to answer any questions or concerns or, um, uh, I'm sure with the help of Ms. Mariana. that you might have about any hoarding of money. I want to say that I have to budget whether I have them or not for 400 inmates. Unlike any other elected office in this county other than the school system is similar because they have to feed people, they have to transport people, they have many buildings. I have to medicate people. I have to put people in the hospital. We have to pay for that. We have to pay for dental work sometimes. We have to pay for back surgeries, heart attacks, open heart surgeries, amputations, all kinds of things that we have to do because when we take custody of somebody, We own them for the most part. Now, I have to say that my staff has worked really, really hard over the years with our medical contract people, and we've been able to save lots and lots of money and get some bills worked down. And that's been a savings to this county in money's return. But at the end of the day, what looks like hoarding is open positions. okay I would say today I'm just guessing off looking at Chief Watkins's board I've probably got 16 open positions there about I'm just guessing between the jail and patrol it's an election year I've held off on filling some positions because I wanted to make sure I was there and if I wasn't gonna be there I'd allow the next sheriff to fill those positions that's just natural The next thing is we've gone from spending about $14,000 to $15,000 a month in gasoline to now we're $23,000 and $24,000 a month in gasoline. I've got to weigh that out. We're going to work with that, and we're going to have to see what goes on. We've had some significant things happen at the jail with medical. I know medical is probably going to get rebid. But I budget for stuff in case something happens. But if I don't, if it doesn't happen, then that money gets returned. In years past, all of you remember the days when you started getting near the end of the budget? What would happen, Marianna? The elected officials and the department heads would go on a spending spree blowing money. I stopped that. And it started in 2018. In 2018. The year before I took office, the sheriff's office was over budget $509,927 over budget. My first year in office in a budget I inherited that I also worked with this committee, the county mayor at the time and Ms. Mariana, to take out of my budget to pay a $1 million basically lawsuit for another county department. That come out of my rear side. I did that. And still was $816,042 to the good. You know why? Because me and Bobby Bryant and Dwight Miller sat down and I cut 22 positions out of my department. I cut 22 positions. I have gained, I have asked for two positions back since I've been sheriff in two terms. And they're over there scanning documents at corrections pay. The next year, $589,301 for budget year 20. Budget year 21. Now take it, that's COVID year. Jail population was down. You know what this sheriff didn't do, unlike all the surrounding counties? We didn't turn nobody out. Every county around us emptied their jails out. We had pursuits, and shootings, and robberies, and rapes, and murders. We didn't turn nobody loose. We kept them in jail. That year was $915,632 returned to the county. 2022, 1.2 million returned to the county. 23, $578,669, and for 24, $367,000. That is a combination of open positions, a combination of saving money in other areas, moving some line items and some grants that we've gotten that we've been lucky to get that have offset some things some things that we just didn't spend but what people don't also understand out here there is a maintenance of effort for the sheriff's office there's a maintenance of effort for some other departments I may not spend this stuff, but as we grow and these rooftops keep coming and the calls to service keep coming, I had a 10-year plan with the amount of people that I inherited in 2018. Now we're eight years into the 10-year plan. I know within two years if we keep going down the rate we're going, I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I'm going to need some more deputies. Our drug fund. It's averaging anywhere from 500,000 to 700,000, just give or take. That drug fund has paid for a lot of stuff that this body has not had to pay for. We've paid lots of stuff. And for many years, you've heard about the vehicles. For years, the county didn't buy any vehicles. And we got into a plan here that worked out really well. And I'm still paying for a lot of stuff out of the drug fund that I can legally pay for that doesn't come from the taxpayer. Let the dope dealers pay for it. But I wanted to answer any questions, but I'm just perturbed that another elected official would come at me like that. It's not right, and I could do the same. Particularly an elected official or officials that have two of the smallest offices in this county that get up here and every year in committee and make it sound like they have made millions of dollars for this county with three or four employees. I'm tired of hearing it. I'm tired of taking it. I'm tired of the abuse from them. Of the two drama queens down there. and then come in here and demand you, demand you make a motion for 12%. That was hilarious the other night. I feel better now. I've got it off my chest. But I'll answer any questions of anything that you may have about any line item, any expenditure, on anything that we've got. We're an open book.

I think it just takes time to, well, People see money coming back, but like you said, you have not been fully staffed. The jail has not been maxed out. You have done great things with the drug fund, buying things under the law. You haven't done anything scrupulous.

I've been all over the United States, Mr. Chairman, gathering up free equipment from the military that we have utilized, and after a certain point, I can go on the auction block, and it can supplement a lot of stuff. Is it as prominent now as it has been in the past? No, it's drying up. Heaven forbid this country gets in another war and the war machine gets back in operation. But that's where a lot of it, a lot of that has come from. But, you know, last year this body did the biggest thing for the sheriff's office in its history. Y'all put those deputies pay up there with tele home. That's not been since 1980. Has it to him? And I appreciate it. And they appreciate it. And they're loyal. They're loyal. I want something for all the county employees. And I don't like this pitting back and forth in between. But I'll be damned if I'm going to let A county official down here with a whopping $300,000 budget, more or less, and I'm sitting here, you're talking to me with a $13 million budget, and I've got a deputy sheriff out here down there that got ambushed last night at the 105. I'm not going to compare apples and oranges with these people, and I'm tired of taking their crap, and them sitting up here publicly carrying on like that. It's not hollering at you. It's letting those people that watch that meeting sit there and go, well, she's got all this and that. Well, you know, this is a two-way street, and I can nitpick some other departments myself. And if there's any other county employee that wants a transfer, I've got spots open, and you might be surprised. You might get a pay raise, ladies and gentlemen. They're welcome to come and join my family. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

I will tell you, I was appalled with the comment that she made, and I'll say she, because it was a woman who made it, that her people are just as important as the first responders. Until you strap a badge on and a gun around you, I don't ever want to hear that again, not in this meeting, because that upset me more than anything. I don't like comments that were made in that meeting. You know, we have discussions that we have to make. We have decisions that we have to make. And we get blasted on social media, and I hate social media, but that's part of life nowadays. But I understand your frustration with it. I really do.

I don't want to wheel wheel nobody, but, you know, we got to quit comparing each of these departments. I know we are all these, these, the clerks, from Teresa's office to Jenny's office to the other offices down here. Everybody has a different task. Some people are processing, some people are patrolling. Some people are getting urine and feces thrown at them at a jail. Some of them's getting shanks put in their necks, some of them's getting choked out and throw down two flights of stairs at a jail. It's apples and oranges. But I'm not, these folks are going to have to learn to quit comparing us to them and them to us. It doesn't work that way. But whenever I've done something, whenever, do you think no other county employee got a benefit to the $4.5 million in the last eight years that has returned? It's amazing to me, Mariana, when me and you started, what was our fund balance? $500,000? the night i took office in 2018 i think the fund balance was 1.2 million what is it today 10 million dollars anybody question thank you thank you jones has a question um i appreciate everything that you do chad and you providing these numbers

I witnessed last year that you gave back money to help the cause as we were trying to do this budget process. And if you remember when you did your presentation, I said, what can you give to us this time? But what I want to say is I appreciate your diligence in doing that and seeing what. My question would be, if you know that there's going to be Something like that. Is there a better way to help us maybe budget you to this level, and then should you fill those positions, come back and do a budget amendment?

I mean, I'm asking. Yes, you could do that. You hold the purse strings, but I cannot give any more positions up.

I didn't mean to say that. I was just saying as we budget people, we are trying to take this big proposal and look at what our revenue is and what our expenditures are and do the best we can and do diligence for our taxpayers. And you have been consistently helping with that task. If there's a better way, I want your input.

I can't predict how many postage stamps we're going to mail on warrants to other counties. And that is my need, really. I can't predict how many calls we're going to answer in the 600 and something miles and highways of coffee County and how much gasoline we're going to burn the brakes, the tires, you know, I've set up our own maintenance program down there. And a lot of our expenses, maintenance, um, a lot of our expenses, food in the jail, um, you know, The bread and the eggs and the milk goes up at the jail for 400 people just like it does at your house. And we've gotten it projections. It's total projections. Is there some buffer in there? Probably a little bit.

Well, because no department spends 100%. There has to be.

Because if I don't, then I come back to you in January next year and we're in the red. And Marianna's like, well, the sheriff's gone over $10,000 on food. Yeah. And, you know, where there are utilities. You know, our utilities is kind of grouped together with everything, and it's hard for Marianna to project that. But what also the education to the people that are watching, and I know in the property assessments and all that, the people do not understand that our tax assessor and Marianna have to do very, very conservative work. conservative estimates of revenue. Because if they come out here and say, well, you know, we're going to be a million, it could be a million more. Well, hey, there could be a shortfall. And sometimes educating the public helps a little bit. And everybody's, you know, I had to go do a standby on a house measuring yesterday. That's the first time in 34 years I've had to go do that with a tax assessor. These people are on edge out here right now. And I mean serious age. People are just barely getting by. People are in properties that they're paying a lot of money for. And, you know, 20 here, 20 there. It means a lot to them because that $20 is $20 to get another $20 worth of gas to get to Nissan.

Right.

Or to get to AEDC or get to wherever they're going. I get it.

That's my concern, too, is that people are having hard times, and then when they read Facebook and the papers and say, the county's going to go up on your taxes, that is not favorable.

And I do not want nobody to go up on taxes, and I don't want to come in here asking to build 200 extra beds at $20 million. I don't. But as we keep growing, if these schools keep blowing out the seams— Guess what's next? Jail.

It happens every time. Total infrastructure.

Well, we very much appreciate you.

Thank you, Chad. Thank you.

Anybody else? All right.

You don't care if I speak, do you? No, sir. May the 3rd, I posted a graphic on my social media page of the comptroller's budget health report. and it plainly shows the line going up, up, up, and where it took the upward turn is in 2018 when Sheriff Parton took office. That, from the comptroller's office, that one graphic demonstrates exactly what the sheriff just shared with everyone. So go view it if you haven't. If you don't believe him, look at it.

yeah but I did a little bit of editing to show who did what and when and how the line grew so that's what's on my social media page okay next thing up is the approval of the minutes and they were from May the 28th and I'll entertain a motion to approve those if you've had the chance to look at them

I make a motion to approve the minutes as done. Second.

Motion by Mr. Hirschman, second by Ms. Jones. Any additions, deletions, or anything? All those in favor by aye? Aye. Okay. The next one is budget amendments, and I don't think we have anything from Ms. Jones. We don't have any. We have no budget amendments. Okay. New business. It's Ms. Fletcher and the property assessor.

She wanted to shed a revision to her budget. Okay. I assume she.

I can't hear Marianne.

Okay, she has a revision to the budget.

Melissa Fletcher does it, so maybe she'll just run and wait and she'll come in a little bit.

All right, we'll wait on her. If she comes, we'll attend her when she gets here. Okay, next one is the continuation of the general fund budget discussion, unless the mayor has something.

Can I tell you where I'm at on it? Yes, ma'am. on the uh reappraisal reassessment i guess you should say um so i just want to start where we started in on april 23rd the deficit was two million seven hundred seventy two thousand forty dollars And then I mentioned last time we reduced the sheriff's overtime in jail because it needed to be. It was based on the current year. So we reduced that $357,849. The next thing, if we just do a 2% salary increase, that's just 2% for everybody except the ones who are mandated by state law to do That's a decrease of $487,514. Say again. It's $487,514. Thank you. The next thing is in the sheriff's budget, he needed about five cars, five or six? Yes. We could do a short-term capital outlay note and pay that out of general debt service, and that would remove that $325,000 from his budget.

Is there – the general debt service balance is pretty healthy? Yes. Okay. So that's an option to take $325,000 out of general debt? What do you have an idea what the balance will be of the general

Just an idea. Just an idea.

Can she just keep going? Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK. So we got the cars.

OK. And then if you just do the rural fire departments and the non-profits for what we did this year, outside there was a couple we didn't fund this year. That's a reduction of $72,531. and then the revenue there were some things that I felt like could be increased plus some of the reappraisals I had not already included in here that is an increase because it's revenue two hundred fourteen thousand two twenty four so that brings the difference in revenue and expenditures to one million

three hundred fourteen thousand nine twenty two one million three hundred fourteen thousand nine hundred twenty two dollars right that's if we buy the cars out of general out of the debt service and we give the fire department and everybody what we gave them last year okay

because we're given what you call the smoke alarm. It's all over and out of the fund.

But the smoke alarm money comes out of rural money, too.

That's rural? Yes.

Yes, rural money.

So they're getting the smoke alarm money and the other money?

Yeah, they buy the equipment out of...

The smoke alarm money.

It's in a rural capital project fund.

What's the total on each one of those? $250 each?

No, no, no. No. It's $250,000 divided six ways.

And that's for the smoke detectors and the other?

No, that's the smoke detector money. Just the smoke detector money.

Yes.

For all six of them. That's the five. And the rescue squad.

And then there were $250,000.

An amount that goes to them.

In the general fund, yes.

And that's how much?

The current year, it's $525,000. They ask for increases, but if we leave it at 525, because we're paying.

Yes. Well, they're earning it. We're not just paying. They're earning it by putting those smoke detectors in.

So that's both combined, 525?

No, no, no. 525 is what we're paying them out of the general fund, and then 250 is the smoke detector money.

In rural capital projects.

So 700 and something thousand?

$775,000. And a quarter of a million of that, the smoke detector money is coming out of rural money only. And to me, it's a whole lot cheaper than having a rural fire department, a staff fire department. Thank you.

answer your question about general debt right now it's about eight point four million if we came in the one point three short Also, my general debt service.

Okay. All right.

I'm sorry.

The lawyer asked about the fund balance. Thank you. And that would be where the cars come from? Yes. Okay. So $8 million and we're going to take $325 from it if we decide to do so. That's a pretty good balance to pull from.

That's what it's for.

Mm-hmm.

miss marianna do you have one of these sheets that shows that so we can see i don't have it printed i'm looking at it but i didn't could you print it for us so we can see what you're talking about that would be really good well you know i think we need to see what where we are well first of all just say you don't even want to add anything to the budget well I mean, we're not where we need to be yet to know if we can.

And I don't know that y'all are going to approve what I just said either. Right.

That's why we just need to look at it.

So that's why I didn't print it. It's the soapbox survey. I wanted to take it out because I watched the media.

No, the soapbox survey is not in that.

Looking at what?

On the last page in your journal fund app.

I have to see stuff. That's what I was looking. Maybe I wouldn't.

Well, with what she has, would everybody be in agreement with pulling the $325,000 out for the sheriff's cars out of the general debt service?

That's a no-brainer.

Yes, if that's making the difference. Okay, so she can add that to her thing that way. Well, I'm just trying to get it to where we can use it. If you want to see it, okay. Would anybody want to change the pay raise? Right now it's at 2%. I would. I don't think 3% is enough.

Well, see where we are first.

You want to see it with the 2% or you want to see it with the... What do you want to see it with?

Probably, I don't know, five, maybe because of the cost of living, like Chad just got through telling. I mean, the money goes nowhere now. Everything's up, and people's having a hard time paying their bills. So I think we really need to look at an increase, a better increase than two.

Can you do that with a two and a five, or can you tell them the difference?

We did a two and three.

insurance is going to be cheaper if the insurance goes at five percent that's going to be cheaper than a five percent pay rise because it's taking out free tax well i mean your insurance over here is not going to be what your income is if you're if you're paying insurance at what 400 a month Say $500 a month.

That's $6,000 a year. He pays $650 a month.

But some of their insurance went up. Just 5% raise on the insurance. If you give the raise on their money, on their income, they're still going to make money. This 5% over here on the insurance is not going to wash out their 5% pay rise. Right. because their insurance is only $6,000, so 5% on that would be $300. If you make $40,000 over here, you get 5%, it's 2,000. So there's gonna be a huge difference on that. You can't compare those two, because those two dudes are not equal to each other. All right. Did you do a 3%? Okay.

Okay.

okay all right so is everybody good with the rule if the rule debt service pay in the two hundred fifty thousand dollars of the fire department that comes from rule taxes only rule capital project okay i'll get them all in my head well i was going to talk a We got the cars and they're okay. The cars are good. All right. That's good. All right. We're down to 1.314. I don't want Bob here yet, but the 1.314 has the 2% base. Okay.

Okay, if you do 5%, that's going to increase the deficit back to 2,139,525. What was that? Say it again. 2,139,525. Yeah, you had it. Well, 3% is $494,762. So if you went with 5%, you're going to raise the debt $825,000.

Right. Right at $825,000. $824,603. That's right. Can you do it like that?

all those 12% salary so if you go 3% you're gonna add a hundred and sixty two thousand

If you go from two to three.

162,921. See what kind of skews it is the fact that

You know, the original budget, the salaries were all over the place.

So that helped bring it down. Right. Because everybody shot for the moon.

Minus that out and then add in.

So that's what I'm trying to say.

I don't know. I'm going to hand it out. It's just information. I have a question. Yes, sir.

So if it went to five, it's going to up it? $824,603.

Plus what we figured at two. So is that right?

Or is it going to up it?

Is it a million that's gonna up it if we go? What's the raise that's gonna cost at 5% total, a million?

824.

Oh, 824? Yeah.

But it takes our deficit back up over 2 million.

Okay, what if we give each employee a bonus instead of a pay raise? It would be cheaper to give a bonus and they'd come up with more money.

I hate doing that because it doesn't reoccur.

yeah yeah but not the longevity pays your longevity pays are you doing that yeah but it's only yeah you got a hundred dollars but i'm saying if you give everyone 400 employees a thousand dollars you're wrong here it's not a couple hundred dollars well from the bottom from the bottom people and i know it goes up over the years but would a bonus be cheaper than a pay raise it'd be happy it would be depending on what you'd want to give but then again

When I started high school, I worked with a company that did that and that appeased some people, but then your income never grew because they would give you a bonus and then they'd take it away. where if you give them a raise, at least that's recurring. Yeah, it happens every year. Yeah, it would happen every year to where if the bonus were next year, say we give $1,000 bonus or whatever, we give $1,000, but next year we're not even able to do that, then they go backwards that $1,000 because we got it this year, but we're not going to give it to you next year to where at least the two or 3% would be built into next year's budget. I mean, I'm good with it. Whatever y'all throw at the wall.

And in the long run, it... Or you could do it.

And more taxes are taken out when you're giving a bonus.

Yeah, that's true. When they give you a single check, they hammer you on the taxes.

They do.

And I never did understand that either. You get it back at the end, I guess, but you don't either.

Well, the cost of living is up over 2%, so I'm just saying.

Yes.

And it's not the employee's fault that we don't have the money to pay them. Give me one back.

We need to cut. something somewhere, if we can, and get them a good pay raise. Like Chad said, on the monthly fuel cost, I think it was almost double. Fuel cost, I mean, it's hard for people to survive now.

Well, I've looked at this budget, looked at this budget, looked at this budget, and you might cut $50 here and $50 there. But I think that this budget has come to a lot of different people for several years, and it's down to... What I passed out to y'all is the information on what the penny value is now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

okay yeah somebody hear me when i passed out is what the penny value is now compared to what it was was right now and now what the new value of a penny is now so that kind of help you know where we're at and know what you can do what you can't do also the i put on the bottom what the new tax rate is going to be for uh next year where it drops down from the two points

three three one zero to one point four two two eight it should be close to that figure when she's done with it the two point three three that you have noted here that's the rural rate so that's not just certified right which is we're going to be looking at everybody manchester telephone which is two dollars and 1.055 right now. Yeah, so everybody needs to remember.

Yeah, this is just a rule So actually the rule rate should be 1.6105

The certified rate.

That's where we're at right now?

The uniform rate.

No, that's the...

The uniform.

That's the county rules property tax.

That would be the county rules property tax rate.

People that don't live in the city. That's what they pay.

We're dealing with all property owners in Coffey County. So what is the uniform rate? That's what we're doing. What do we need? We need to know that.

John asked me for the county rate. That's what I was giving him. What do you need?

The uniform.

1.4228.

That's the new. That's the uniform.

All right.

1.4228.

It's on that page she gave you. That's the new tax rate. That's okay. I did this.

No, it's fine.

You're fine. I just want her not. That's on my page.

The rage is going down.

Yeah, Marianna didn't do this, by the way. This is mine.

I'm doing this for you so you'll have it.

So you're comparing the old rural rate he has to the new rate. Uniform rate.

OK. So revenue went down. That's not going to help nothing.

Learn that over the years.

Okay, so the car comes out.

The fire stays. Which it should be.

All places should be.

I can't remember.

But I said, put your sight in there.

But it's less than that. It's going to be around 606, somewhere in that area.

Well, what I just gave you.

Okay, we started off last year.

Yeah, with 2%.

2% raise and we did put a share.

6% would almost be a dollar. Last year.

Last year we did. We did four. Four, right? We did four. And then the shares went away. It was a pretty good raise. Oh, yeah. 37 cents.

Can we have a little discussion about growth right quick? Let's do some math. Everybody stay on the same page. Our new assessed property values by new assessment has increased $32 million. Is that correct, Marianna? Or $34 million?

Real property is $32 million.

Do what? Real.

Real property. Real property.

We're not talking about personal property.

is how much 32 32 million 454 216 everybody got that 32 million 454

I'm trying, I didn't have the $400,000 in there.

That's revenues.

No, no, no. No, you're not talking revenues, you're talking about assets. You're assessed value. OK. Assessed value, OK? I'm going to round up to $32,500,000. All right.

That's appraised value.

That will go, that will be assessed at 25%.

No, that's assessed. Well, you didn't tell me that. Yes, I did.

You said appraised.

Okay, great.

All right, thank you. That helps a whole lot.

The first time you said assessed, I thought that's what I heard you say.

All right, so we divide that 32 million by 100 because you're paying this penny rate, this rate per $100.

100, I guess I'll put my glasses on, equals, there's $325,000 times $1.4228.

That raises $462,000. 462, 410, that's new revenue on growth is what we expect. That could be a little flexible.

So everybody just needs to- On new homes and stuff like that.

Whatever, yeah, that's new growth. That may not include some of the industrial park properties that have increased. That might be at a different rate, right?

It does include the industrial park.

But anyway, just so everyone knows, growth does not pay for itself entirely. Everybody needs to understand that. All this new growth is only raising a half a million bucks. And look at all the expenditures that everybody is expecting because we have this growth. So everybody needs to be on the same page there and know what that's going on. Thanks.

In this budget that we are 1.314 million short, it does have added things in that department heads asked for though.

Yes, the only thing that

the two it's two percent yes but if the new servers and stuff we've added more spending than we did last year yes that way everybody understands we're not flat out like we were last year we're spending more money for more things that is needed that are needed to operate our county government and plus the 2% pay raise, and if we take out the 325 on the cars, we would be at 1.3, $1.4 million short. Projected. Projected. And I know everybody gets off, but you have been very, very conservative. The sheriff has not filled positions which I hope he does fill those positions because the more people live here, the more people we need on the road and they need better cars and vehicles to move around with us and there's no way that crime is gonna go down with growth. If that happens, we're living in a wonderful place and we are living in a wonderful place but it's not gonna happen. I will make the motion that we carry this to the floor with a 2% pay raise in it because if you get more money and we have to raise taxes, not only is that penalizing our employees, it's penalizing our citizens. If everybody's, you know.

Would you repeat that and say the chair will?

The chair would. Make a motion.

Wait a minute. If you would say the chair will entertain a motion and let somebody else do it.

The chair will entertain a motion to approve the budget as presented with the 2% raise.

Has no property tax increase.

Has no property tax increase.

for a deficit of $1.3 million. Projected? Yeah, projected.

This is where we started off last year and we're way underneath that right now. We also have a fund balance over $9 million. And like Mr. Brown said, people are hurting. If we take money from, and it's not a slush fund that can be drained all the time, but if you take money from an account and it helps all of our citizens, That to me is what we ought to be doing. Now if we were at a million dollars and we were gonna do this, it would be foolish. And maybe people think this is foolish now, I don't know, but I will entertain a motion to do that.

I wanna see that piece of paper. I'm going to get you that. Okay, okay, I'm just saying before I go with it, I wanna see what we're dealing with.

You entertain that motion, I'll make that motion.

Because last year we went from our meeting to commission with X projection, and then we got in there to vote, and that had changed, and we had not discussed things last year. So I want to see where we are.

I have a motion and a second. At least we can talk while she's doing her thing. Can you print that for her?

Okay. Well, it's for everyone.

Yes, ma'am.

But this budget would include what department heads asked for extra. It would do a 2% pay raise. It would take the sheriff patrol cars out and do that out of another fund.

more vehicles. I don't remember any other departments.

I think the ambulance is pretty good. The ambulance is there.

Are y'all there's one in your budget. We're gonna leave that.

We got one. We got one that's coming. We need to be asking for another but we'll probably watch the next budget. We did. We did ask for your budget 118. 118. Okay.

So they have one from last year that they board. That's all in order. That's all in order and we've got another one in the budget this year.

Do any of you have any cuts to propose? I mean, we're trying. Yeah, I understand that.

Does anybody have any other cuts that we can make?

Anybody? That way she's good or we're good. Don't tell her that. And we may need a roof on the library, correct? We are going to need a roof.

That's what that original thing was. Yes, ma'am.

Okay. So there is money there to cover that? Yep.

Okay. All right.

that's what I'm saying have we done our due diligence is there a way with the departments that have added all this new stuff can it be timed differently for later in the year and do budget amendments Instead of starting out with this large of a deficit, is that possible?

I think that those servers and the computers and stuff that they're adding, they need them as quickly as possible. They do need those.

I'm saying, I was just using that as an example. Is there anything that can be delayed?

You need your cars quickly. And I think that's taken care of anyway because it's going to come out of a different fund. You're good. No.

move anything you want to mine as far as capital, if you want to prolong it, I'll make it happen. I just want to do diligence for our taxpayers. Yes, ma'am. By law, I have to present it. Yes, sir. How you deal with it is left up to you, okay? If you guys want to push it out and say, Sheriff, you're not going to be able to get a PO on anything until January 1, that's exactly what the sheriff's going to do. And I'll make it happen. I mean, we'll just... But that cost in the long run, though. Well...

We have to stay compliant with maintenance of VAPR. We do have to stay compliant, yes. So don't forget that. But this budget has to happen.

The main thing, we'll ride stick horses, right? The main thing is we just got to pay the people to ride those stick horses. Cars are a pain in my rear side. I've got a fleet of about 70, and they're all, I mean, the big three now, it's just junk for law enforcement. I'm having trouble with 40,000-mile Ford Explorers right now. All four of them have been to the dealership with transmission troubles. The Chevrolets are throwing rods outside of the blocks. I don't know. The engineering has just gotten pitiful in law enforcement, emergency services stuff. So I don't know. We may be riding horses.

Have you thought about going to All Mavericks or something cheaper? Or is the Maverick going to count?

So far, the Maverick's been fine. Mr. Brown, we had a wreck with one of them, and there's no parts out there for them. I've got an SRO Maverick that we're waiting to get back done, but they've been a good little vehicle. But this is for, like Tanner and those guys on patrol, for SROs, for me, the admin, narcotics, we go to used car lots. I go to car auctions. We find whatever the best deals and do trading on that. But for the Mark patrol car, I try to keep them in that true blue police package. It's just not out there no more. Right now, the trucks have been the biggest bang for the buck. But they're just cumbersome, you know. But we just think outside the box. But whatever you want to prolong, just ask me. I'll look at it on this sheet and we'll...

we'll we'll get to the nitty gritty and see what we can do thank you chad the card will be they'll come out of that general debt service yes it's got eight yeah it has eight million dollars and i'd rather know up front so we know what we're getting into and then coming to a meeting and surprised well we need this x amount of dollars by this time or we're going to close down like the library if that was taken care of like it should have been, we wouldn't have to close down to begin with, with the roof and stuff.

Can I present? Yes, sir.

Okay. So the mayor.

Okay. Mr. Jeff Damron in Tullahoma, for the ones that have not heard, he was interim city administrator. He has now been hired as a full-time city administrator. He does a good job. He has made a request to me for, They have, I think they call it the Johnson Street facility. Do you know, did it? The sports complex. They have three fields, but the real estate is laid out for a fourth, and they have approved $800,000 for this field expansion. They've got a $400,000 grant that they're very comfortable that they are going to get that And they're asking us for some donations to help with these fields which should come out of tourist money. And our tourist money is sitting over here and by resolution can only be spent on two things, either tourism or economic development. And we practically put all of that kitty towards over here for economic development and sort of left these other people hanging. So he'd like to save around $50,000 if he could to help him get this field going. And if we do that, I suggest that we give that same amount to the Manchester Rec Department to help maintain their fields. Mr. Dameron sent me an email. Last year, they hosted 26 travel baseball and softball tournaments. They expect over 30 this year. Those people come in here, and they're generally at least two, if not three, day events. People are staying in motels. So it seems justified to me. So having said that, I would like to see One of you guys make a proposal to move tourism dollars to these two entities to help them out with their sports complexes.

And that would be for Manchester and Tallahoma to add on to their sports complex and Manchester to... use for maintenance. As their discretion.

I don't know what their needs may be.

It's just specifically for recreation. Yes. I'll make that motion.

I'll second the motion. Put a dollar amount on it, pretty please.

I'll make a motion, 50,000 to Telehoma, 50,000 to Manchester.

And this is tourism money. Tourism money. It's not coming out of general funds.

It's not going to affect the bottom line here because we have already got the money. I'll make that motion. And I'll second that motion.

So we have a motion to, in a second, to do $50,000 to the city of Telehoma, $50,000 to the city of Manchester, out of tourism money only. to go to their baseball, softball fields, and that way they can continue because that's what's generating revenue for us too, is them spending the night. Okay. Yeah, we just left that other one on the table.

I thought we were going to discuss it.

We are going to discuss it. He just brought this up for the other one. Is everybody good with that before I call a vote? Everybody good on the tour? Terry Hirschman. Okay.

And softball. Okay.

We can handle this.

We can vote on this, but we're waiting on that.

Yeah, we're waiting on the other from Marianna before we talk about it, but that way we'll get this in here. Anybody else discussion on the tourism money? It can only be used for this and it can be used for economic development. That way everybody out there knows we're not spending this for something else. Okay, all those in favor for the $50,000 to Tallahoma, $50,000 to Manchester out of the tourism money for them to develop softball, baseball fields or see fit for their maintenance. All those by aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay.

I have one other thing from Mr. Dameron. The city of Tallahoma, i think it's obama have decided that they are going to absorb the senior citizen center that is down there by the library and the parks down there and i make it a city basically a city department there's been There's been so many issues with that senior citizen center. It's basically conflicting personalities of the people that frequent the place. But anyway, to try to get it straightened out, they're going to make it a city department. He's sending me, I wanted something in writing from him. He's going to send me a memorandum of intent to convey to the commission. But you guys need to know about the money part. We have consistently donated, I think it's $47,000 to each one of the senior citizen centers, and they want to rest assured that we will continue that contribution. So his MOI and then a MOU, Memorandum of Understanding, will be followed up, and I'll run that by legislative or whoever that I need to, but I do... I assured him that I did not think that it would affect the donations that we're making to that senior citizen center. But I'll have the documentation to back all this up, and no need for action tonight. But unless somebody really had a problem with it tonight, go ahead and voice that.

Yeah, basically what you're saying, they're just taking it over to –

right now it's open three days a week and they're going to make it open six days a week and i feel like it's a great thing that they're doing it is i think if they don't take it over they ought to pay the bill too we shouldn't have to continue to pay it unless they take it over but you got county people who do go there because you got people that live in normandy that do go there

That's like the one here in Manchester. There are people from Beech Grove that come to it.

Last I heard, there's not that many people who go to telehomes. It's a real small number.

That may be why they're taking it over, because they're having a problem. Yeah, they're maybe having a management issue. Well, that's what it is. Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you, Ms. Mariana. Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate you.

Thank you.

This is what I have to say. Good.

Thank you.

We have one commissioner out there. Would you like to speak? OK.

Yeah, okay.

Should have had it this way.

Yes, and as I'm understanding, this shows that we are accepting our original budget proposal that's in the notebook that has every department increases for their materials equipment and that kind of thing so we are accepting that as as budgeted and then these reductions and reprogramming is changing a way to do business, brings us to a deficit of 1.314 there, and it includes all those things that we said that we wanted to fund for our charities and those kinds of things. Okay, is that correct?

And it took the salary increase straight across the board at 2%. At 2%.

that's where we are okay yes i understand okay thank you any more discussion yeah i just want to bring up again the two percent because at a forty thousand dollar yearly salary with the county two percent pay raise is eight hundred dollars eight hundred dollars divided into two thousand eighty hours that's a yearly hours i mean you work that's 37 cents an hour So it's $2.96 a day, less the taxes would probably be $2.20 or $2.30. I mean, it's still not enough. I mean, the cost of living is higher than what we're paying. I mean, that don't buy you a gallon of gas or a gallon of milk. And Social Security gives $2.8, and I think the state gives $3. I'm not positive, but... I just don't think 2% is enough.

How about a compromise in that a 2% raise, and I'm just learning this stuff in my first year, but if we come in under budget like we did this last year, we're entering at about the same amount of deficit, but it works out in the end. So you get the 2% raise and a bonus. And the bonus can be incentivized by, hey, when you're operating in whatever job it is you do, however it is you can save money, the more money we can save, then we come in at the end of the year and it all works out, then we provide a bonus. So it's a compromise between the two. We don't lock ourselves into something that we can't pay for. or that we run as a deficit, but we also put that part, you know, we have that compromise between the two, and we have a pay raise and a bonus.

So what happens when they don't come in where they think they're gonna be able to come in? The reason why I'm saying this is because then we're gonna sit there and go, no, you're not getting a bonus. That's something that they already figured on getting. And now you just...

Created an unrealistic expectation.

And you don't want to do that. You're better off just saying if you're going to bite the bullet and you want to go to a higher increase, then you go a higher increase and then you bite the bullet. But if you're going to sit there and try bonuses, they're not going to work. I've been in business too long. I know they're not going to work.

So instead of calling it a bonus, why don't we call it a incentive? In other words, I've seen one particular jurisdiction where at the end of the year, if a particular department came in under budget, it's almost like profit sharing. Hey, we came in X amount of dollars under budget. The percentage of that X amount of dollars goes to the employees. So it's not a bonus. It's an incentivized savings program.

What do we do with, like in the jail situation? I mean, I guess what I'm saying is I think some departments might get penalized.

because there are some things that happen like my office it's just you know i don't have to run in jail i'm not ems i don't have to what can be a cumulative over the county as a whole rather than just by individual departments but if the county as a whole is incentivized to save money if we come in under budget a certain amount then a certain percentage of that savings can be then shared and not called a bonus And if there is no savings and things ran real tight, then this year it's less or none. Next year, there's a significant amount of savings, then that, and we don't call it a bonus, it ends up being a bonus, but rather than having an expectation of saying, hey, at the end of the year I'm gonna get $1,000, and then say, hey, no, we were too tight, you're not gonna be able to get that, there will be a, you don't attach a figure to it, you do a percentage of savings, And if we save, say, 10%, 1% goes back to the employees because they're the ones who saved the money by how efficient they did in saving that money.

But would you do that as a whole or by department?

I would do it overall because if you do it by department, then you've got that problem that she just brought up.

When you don't have that problem, let's say this department went over. So this department's going to get mad because they were under, but this over here took it.

And they're going to get the benefit off of the money we saved. And that's where you're going to have another issue.

Last year we gave 4%, correct? So over two years we've given 6% if we do this one.

Yeah, we did last year. Last year we did. Seven, we didn't split.

Last year we did four, and the year before that was five. And the year before that was like eight. Yes, that's correct.

Eight, five, four.

What's the state paying? Three. Three percent. Three something, yeah. And if we did three, that's what would bring it to that.

What does three bring it to? A deficit of 155 that's projected.

Yeah, it's not quite 3%. 2.63 was state. 2.63.

Yeah, that was the state. State was 2.63. 2.63, so 3%.

It wasn't quite 3%. 1.55 million. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay anybody questions or anything to add to this because we do have a motion here and that way anybody wants to amend it or whatever. All right, no amendments, no nothing. Yeah, I'll amend it. Okay. I'll amend it to 5%. Okay, we'll make a motion. 5%.

I don't second that.

Okay.

Somebody else can. We have to agree with the amendment, right? You have to vote on the amendment first. You have to have a second first.

Then vote on the amendment agenda, the amendment motion, if it gets a second.

If it gets a second, you've got to have a second first.

All right, 5%.

Yeah, I got three.

OK. Being none, back to the original one. He made the motion. Second over here. Carry this to the floor. 1.3. 1.314922, short, projected, with a 2% pay increase included in it. All those in favor by aye? Aye. Chair votes aye. Those opposed?

Opposed. And I'm not voting down the 2% raise. Well, I am. I'm going for a higher pay raise.

I'd like to amend it to 3%.

You missed the boat.

You should have done that one before. You can do it on the floor. You can do it on the floor. You can do it on the floor. Okay, so we're going to carry right now.

I would support that.

Right now, Tuesday night, this one right here. But if he chooses to amend it, okay, he can amend it. That will be Tuesday night. Also remember, Monday night we will be here, all of us meeting, no voting. You can ask any questions that you want to.

6 o'clock Monday night. Work session. Work session, yes.

Which we'll still discuss this because we'll have something to present there. Anybody questions on anything on the budget?

No, but this is with no property taxes. With no property taxes. That's right. I'm going to get that out.

Just for technicality, for procedure, if two-thirds of this body wants to bring that motion back to allow him to amend it, you can do that. If there's a motion to reconsider, he takes two-thirds of the body here to do it.

I'll make a motion to reconsider. Are you talking about, yes. Well, if he takes it to the floor...

We can do it now.

Let's do it now. I'll make a motion to reconsider Todd's. Is it going to take two-thirds Tuesday?

No, he's talking about right now. Us, just of us. Right now.

In this meeting. Let's do it now.

That's six people have to agree to reconsider. Yes, let's do it.

Okay, I have a motion to reconsider.

Todd's amendment. All right, I got it.

No. No, a motion to reconsider what you already passed.

Passed. All right.

I'll second that motion.

OK. We've got a motion and a second to reconsider the $1.3 million. OK.

Yes.

All those in favor by aye.

Aye. Hold your hands up, please. Take six.

Three. Those opposed.

Okay.

But you can still do it on the floor. Okay. Three at a time. It has to be two-thirds majority.

Six had to raise their hand to reconsider.

It has to be two-thirds majority. You can still do it Tuesday night. I'm not knocking it. Yes, sir. You can still bring it to the floor Tuesday night and take off with it.

That's right.

Okay. I just want the county employees to know that we're trying.

That's right.

All right. Any more discussion or anything? So our budget and finance meeting that was scheduled at 4 o'clock on Tuesday has now been canceled because we have something in play. So we will meet Monday night at 6 o'clock for a work session. Tuesday night, full county commission meeting at 6 o'clock.

And I'd recommend all commissioners attend the work session.

That's not going to happen. We were going to have a budget and finance if we didn't make a decision tonight.

If we didn't get this done.

Tuesday night. Tuesday before the full county commission. Remember? We're done. So this will go. It can be amended. I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. Second. Motion and a second to adjourn. And I would encourage everybody, the commissioners, to be there Monday night. That way they can ask questions. Thank you.

Might we move that meeting to 530? Would that be possible? The one Monday night, just the work session. Could we move that to 530?

Just in case I'm challenged on procedure.

Okay.

It would have took five minutes.

Okay. To reconsider. Okay. Five to reconsider. Ms. Dow, you would like. Could we? I said possibly. I know one of our rural commissioners cannot be there until six. Okay. She travels from Lebanon. That's fine. Okay. Six o'clock Monday night. Thank you. Six o'clock Monday night. Yes, ma'am. Six o'clock Monday night. Six o'clock Monday night. Yes, sir. All right. We're adjourned.

Thank you.

I've already got that.

Shut us off.