County Leaders Making Cuts Trying to Meet Budget

Fayette County Commissioners Court spent over three hours last Thursday hashing through the latest draft of the County budget for next year.

In the general fund, projected revenue stands at $26,395,723.02. Expenses are estimated at $26,712,359.68. That left a deficit of little over $316,000.

County Auditor Cindy Havelka said the County could draw on the expected surplus from this year to cover the deficit. Fayette County EMS Director Josh Vandever said the revenue projected for his department – $2.6 million from ambulance fees – was a very conservative estimate. He suggested increasing projected revenue as one way to clear the hurdle.

Ultimately, though, Commissioners opted to trim some spending. The County Attorney’s Office requested a $75,000 increase to the Law Library Fund. Commissioners opted to cut those expenses down to $20,000 (see story on Page A1).

EMS asked to implement a certificate and diploma pay policy. Under the proposed policy, EMS employees would receive additional pay for holding certain qualifications or college degrees, which would cost the department an estimated $30,000 next year.

“If we’re going to do degree pay, I’d like to do it for the whole county,” said Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom.”

Commissioners declined to include it as part of next year’s budget, but they expressed some interest in pursuing the policy in the future.

The court initially allocated $275,000 to a Justice Center Contingency Fund. The money would be used to pay for housing inmates out of the County whenever the jail is full. Any money left over would be reserved for the construction of a future county jail. After examining expenses from this year, the Commissioners decided to lower that amount to $175,000, which cut $100,000 from the deficit.

Commissioners have not yet officially set the tax rate for next year. But they have been planning the budget assuming a property tax rate of $0.40984 per $100 of value, which Havelka said is the voter approval rate. That’s the highest rate the County could set without calling an tax rate election. Due to rising property values, that’s lower than the current rate of $0.41189 per $100.