This online news website is owned and operated by Becky Watts. The Editor can be reached at 770-468-7583 or at editor(at)PikeCountyTimes(dot)com. Pike County Times is a website for citizens to keep up with local events and stay informed about Pike County government. It began on November 13, 2006 as a watchdog on county government and has turned into an online newspaper.
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By Editor Becky Watts
The biggest complaint that I hear in Pike County politics is that people are not getting any services for the amount of taxes that they are having to pay. As a taxpayer who lives here in Pike County, taxes are a concern to me too. When I pin people down to start thinking about what their taxes could pay for, they usually come to the same conclusions naming the most visible parts of our county budget. The Sheriff's Office, Pike County Emergency Services (the Fire Department), and those people who patch the potholes and cut the grass (that would be Public Works).
Whether or not we use the services of the Sheriff's Office and Pike County Emergency Services directly, those services are available and paid for with our taxes. The Sheriff's Office works to keep crime down in Pike County and provides safety for the county overall whether we end up needing to call E-911 or not. (E-911 is a county department that we pay for with our taxes too.) The jail houses our inmates and inmate care pays for their needs until sentencing and the state takes over or they serve their time, get out on bail, etc. Pike County Emergency Services, our county fire department, is made up of volunteers who respond to emergency calls like fires, wrecks, and medical calls. Yes, we have Mid Georgia Ambulance Service who responds to calls, but it sometimes takes a minute to get from point A to point B when volunteer firefighters live all over the county and are sometimes going right by an emergency scene. (Remember the man whose life was saved when his car fell on him and a volunteer firefighter happened to be driving by and ended up picking the car up enough for him to get out when the car started to fall and crush him? That would be providence--but we don't pay taxes for that!)
Pike County has approximately 400 miles of roads throughout the county. And about 182 miles of that--roughly half--are not paved. Public Works has the job of maintaining our roads--scraping, putting rock on, and patching the many potholes that we have on these roads. They also have the job of mowing all of the grass along 400 miles of roads and a myriad of other jobs that go along with our roads. Yes, there are potholes and some of our roads are a mess, but if you are wanting your road paved, your taxes are going to go way up. Pike County got a LMI Grant from the state this year (it used to be called LARP) to the tune of $315,299.91 plus matching funds of $144,589.97 (that should be paid for out of SPLOST after the Courthouse is complete) to do the following: leveling and surfacing of 2.0 miles of Sullivan Road from Highway 19 to Howell Road, 1.5 miles of Dripping Rock Road from Highway 18 to Pike County/Upson County line, 1 mile of Twin Oaks Road from County Farm Road to Drew Allen Road, and 0.5 miles of Etheridge Mill Road from Shackleford Road to Liberty Road along with funds for cutting out and patching some bad spots on various other roads. Look at those numbers again and think about building a road from dirt including culverts, scraping, leveling, and then paving. See how far almost 1/2 a million dollars is going. Something to think about when you start talking money...
There are other services that are required by the state that we may not have used or don't think about. Magistrate Court, Superior Court, the District Attorney's Office, the Public Defender's Office, the Tax Commissioner's Office--oh yeah, where we pay for our tags and part of that money comes back to the county--the Registar's Office and Probate Office which handle our elections and obviously probated matters with Probate Court, the Coroner's Office, our contract with Mid Georgia Ambulance, the Health Department, the public library, Planning and Development (formerly building and zoning), DFCS, Pike County Parks & Recreation, our county agent and 4-H, forestry, the Industrial Development Authority, the Agribusiness Authority, and Pike's Emergency Management Agency. We may not use all of these sources at once or maybe only once in a while--if ever!, but our taxes fund these services that are used in our county.
Some of these agencies bring in money to the county. Some do not. Some are required to perform services that have state and federal mandates on them that are often underfunded or even unfunded by these same state and federal agencies. Many of these departments are directly under the control of the Pike County Commissioners through our county manager. Some come to the commission for funding but are stand alone departments that report the expenditures of this money to the commissioners as a way to show accountability to our taxpayers. Read below to hear some of what has gone on at budget hearings this week and get knowledgeable about our county if you aren't already. And the next time you hear someone say that we don't get services for our taxes, think over these departments and envision what would not be getting done in our county without them.
A draft of the upcoming FY 2013-2014 Budget is now at the J. Joel Edwards Library in Pike County and at the Pike County Commissioners Office. Click here to download the current draft of the budget. This will not be revised and reprinted until around the first of May. And nothing is final until the commissioners vote on it. Recommendations are recommendations and the commissioners can do whatever they want to with these numbers.
Budget Hearing - April 19, 2013
This was attended by County Attorney/Interim County Manager Rob Morton, County Clerk Jo Ann Wrye, and Financial Officer Kay Landers. The revised draft will be presented to the commissioners on April 30, 2013. All of these meetings have been made public so commissioners could attend and it would be properly advertised so there would be no violations of Open Meetings Laws. Mr. Morton is working with each department to ensure that each department is only using what is essential because the tax base is down and there is the possibility of taxes going up if our budget goes up. Wants and needs have been examined in each department and Mr. Morton is trying to get down to the bottom line while making a multitude of notes for anyone who pulls together our budget in the future.
Registrar Office – Department 14
Voter Registrar Sandi Chamblin made this presentation. There are two assistant registrars on her payroll. Her budget is pretty straight-forward. This is a non-election year so her budget is less than last year which had a number of elections in it. Mr. Morton walked through her budget line item through line item. She uses her own personal cell phone and does not have a county cell phone. She made a suggestion about the possibility of changing internet providers. Mr. Morton made a note to get a written quote from Verizon in order to compare to the current AT&T plan. If we have a special called election, there will have to be at least $3,700 in her budget to cover it. It is now $750 yearly for her Georgia Easy Vote maintenance contract instead of $1,999.00 on election years.
Tax Assessor's Office - Department 17
This was presented by Assessor Cindy Foster and she was accompanied by Chief Appraiser Lisa Baker, and Board of Assessors members April Asher and Frank Goforth. Mr. Morton said that commissioners and Mrs. Landers were very complimentary because of the information that had been provided on their department.$159,506.68 is what is requested. The Board of Assessors approved a 2% raise for the employees in this office. This will be decided by commissioners later if they vote to give a 2% raise across the board. There is an open slot for an administrative assistant for $18,500 to answer phones, etc. that was approved by the Board of Assessors. Mr. Morton asked how necessary this was. They were looking to add it at some point in the future because it is listed on their pay scale for their office. Mr. Morton looked at pulling it out for now if they can handle the work in their office without it. 2007 is our last set of flyovers. The Department of Revenue says it is required every 3 or 5 years, and it is cheaper to do if we do this with other counties. $19,500 is the amount for the flyover and it can be paid in two budgets if Meriwether and Lamar do their flyovers compared to $27,500 if we do it on our own and this can also be reduced to $13,750 in next year’s budget and the following year. They are using their log books to track their mileage as this office has been going out to get required information for appraisals and inspections. There were some computers that were purchased in-house two years ago that were placed in this office. The costs were never put into their budget because it happened after the audit was complete. They need two more computers plus installation, etc. costs by Turner Tech. These computers were purchased in 2009 are not able to keep up with the programs such as Wingap, etc. These old computers run very slow and shut off. $249,960.08 plus utilities is what they are asking. $251,003 was the recommendation by the past CM. Mrs. Asher asked about using the county vehicle when two members are going to a class instead of paying per diem. Past CM Bill Sawyer had told them that them that their department could not use this vehicle. Mr. Morton said that this is an option for the office now as long as there is not a conflict with the Explorer and said that this is a very good idea on how to save money for the county. He emphasized working as a team even though they are a separate entity.
Inmate Care – Department 32
There were four representatives from the Pike County Sheriff’s Office here for the presentation on the jail, inmate care, E-911 and the Sheriff’s Office. Major Tracy Vincent, Major David Neal, Major Doug Morris, and Major Jason Smith were here to answer questions about their respective departments. This first part of the budget was pretty cut and dried. The contract with Dr. Busby has come down from $32,400 last year to $26,880 this year. Last year’s contract stipulated the doctor and a nurse for 4 hours a day and the nurse has been reduced to 2 hours per day, hence the reduction. There was a court ordered pick up in Nebraska, but the court order the prisoner to repay the cost of her transport. They went through this line by line to ensure that the amounts are a good estimate of the costs that will be needed in the next year. There is no way to be sure of the exact amount that will be needed in the next year because the number of prisoners housed here, women housed in other facilities, etc. may be different. $282,915 is the amount that they are asking for. Year to date may lag behind because we get billed from other facilities who house our prisoners. Pike County does not have facilities for youth or women. Pike has had some savings this year through the work of the nurse who is making use of the Blue Cross Blue Shield program that they are using.
Sheriff’s Office – Department 33
Not interested in making changes to cell phones because of the possibility of legal issues. They are going to look into this and provide information on this. Most of their phones are only $35. Major Vincent says that she has this check their plans regularly and that it has been adjusted several times in the past. They are also asking for 2 of the 3 employees removed from last year’s budget. One will be for a 3rd school resource officer that will be partially funded by the Board of Education and the other would be a deputy for the road. The discussion about vehicles was long and hard because apparently the budget draft final number on this department was given to commissioners and this request for 5 cars was not included in the summary though the supporting documentation was included in their packet. Add this to the fact that 4 cars were bought last year that were supposed to be leased, but the financing company recommended buying at $36,500 instead and the commissioners voted to do as recommended. They have 34 cars total. They are asking for five new vehicles this year at $30,163.60 each. Three of these cars have over 200,000--and on the road every single day--and the other two are approaching the 200,000 mark. They are also other cars that are approaching the 200,000 mark along with a crime scene van that no longer runs. Discussion about rotation of cars at about 150,000. They maintain these cars, but said that cost of maintenance needs to be factored into the discussion. Major Vincent is going to call and ask neighboring agencies when they rotate their cars out. Upkeep and the cost of maintenance factor into whether it is better to wait until 200,000 or go ahead and start rotating out at 150,000. Mr. Morton asked them to research the options on financing including long term leasing versus purchase and he asked them to look at the option of doing the 3 on the road this year and 3 next year though it was pointed out that we did not replace cars for a couple of years so there could be additional cars that may need to be replaced next year in addition to that 3 and 3 that are currently being requested. For planning purposes, we are faced with replacing 10 cars over the next 2 to 3 years. Paying for this over a multiyear period might be better for our budget. As we discuss needs and how it affects our taxes, here is something for people to think about. If a deputy calls for back up, their back up needs to be able to get to them. This could be a danger for citizens, to our deputies, and is a liability for our county if cars are breaking down on the way to calls. This took a while to go through line item by line item.Jail - Department 34
The Georgia Sheriff’s Association suggested that for our type of jail, there be 3 deputies on duty at all times. The insurance person who gave a quote on the jail agreed with that assessment and recommended 3 deputies per shift as well. The Sheriff’s Office is asking to hire one deputy for the jail. This is 1 of 3 positions that has been lost to attrition—which means someone has left and no one was hired in their place. They went through this line item by line item. After three hours, we still weren't done going through this which means there will be a follow up for E-911 and a few other things, but commissioners will have the information that they need when they are presented with the budget.
EMA - Department 90
The $30,000 new vehicle was put in this department. Like the vehicles for the Sheriff’s Office, it was supposed to be on a lease program and was put on a purchase program instead to save money. Everything for EMA used to be in the Fire Department budget, but the process has begun to keep track of this department by itself. We are going to add a vehicle maintenance repair line item in order to plan for future expenses. Every other department has a line item for insurance and maintenance if there is a vehicle. The bus that was donated from Upson County to Pike County EMA and it needs to be moved from the Fire Department to Pike County EMA. He has found some grants to offset some of the cost of training this current year and will look for future grants to do the same. Pike EMA is looking at a grant is $24,000 with the federal government reimbursing us for $18,000 of the expenses on this grant to get equipment for our county. A presentation will be made to commissioners very soon. There is also a possibility of tornado sirens through a grant that could even include the cities if the cities were interested. The county could also access a grant for road closing signs and other equipment that is needed during a time of emergency that we don’t have enough of now. This will also be brought before commissioners at a later time.
[Note from the Editor: This was Day Three of Budget Hearings this week. I am officially done with the budget. I think readers can get the picture that the county is trying very hard to be fiscally responsible with our tax dollars from the large amounts on down to the small. Thank you to Kay, Jo Ann and Rob for making my time in the meeting room bearable this week.]
Budget Hearing - April 18, 2013
ZEBULON - County Attorney and acting Interim County Manager Rob Morton, County Clerk Jo Ann Wrye, and Financial Officer Kay Landers were present in all meetings today. No commissioners were present in the morning session. Mr. Morton and those in attendance went through each department's budget line item by line item. Mr. Morton tried to anticipate questions from the commissioners and asked a lot of questions. There were members of the public cycled in and out of the meetings today. I began this as the only adult in the room and ended the same way.
DFCS - Department 54
Chairman of the Department of Family and Children’s Services Edd Sanders presented this budget on the behalf of DFCS Director LaResa Price. They requested no funds last year because they operated from excess funds from prior years that rolled over. They are requesting $29,750 for this year’s budget which is less than the $37,750 requested in 2011-2012 budget two years ago. Some of the items that they provide in our community are clothing for fire victims, foster care children, indigent families, etc. They also provide for medical which is non-reimbursible Medicaid and incidentals are listed in contingency. There are inhouse criteria that have to be met in order to qualify for assistance. 3 computers are in this budget though they are not mandated by the state yet, but it’s coming. They will be placed on site or in the library or somewhere that is accessible to the public. This budget includes $1 per person in our population which is 17,869 according to the 2010 census. There is one line item that contains 2 part-time positions, but they are only asking for funding for 1 because there won’t be federal funds to pay for 1 of those positions. He said that this is an adequate budget that is $7,000 less than their previous budget. Their 2008-09 budget was $55,000. They thanked Mr. Sanders for helping to streamline this department since he came aboard as the Chairman of the DFCS Board.
Dept 16 – Tax Commissioner
Tax Commissioner Donna Wynn made this presentation. March 1, 2013 was the date when state-mandated changes took place with the motor vehicle tax and ad valorem taxes. No ad valorem taxes are being collected on current new and used vehicles sales since the annual “birthday tax” is slowly going away as people buy new and used vehicles under the new TAVT program mandated by the state and they get rid of the vehicles that they are paying “birthday tax” on. Sales tax/ad valorem tax was a large portion of our budget up until this year and it will dwindle each year from now on. The state is supposed to make sure that each county makes up for this ad valorem tax amount out of the TAVT, but there is a chance that it may fall short at the end of the initial 3 year period where everything is being compared against 2012 which is the last year of ad valorem taxes. The county is going to ask for help from the Department of Revenue and ACCG in order to get some sort of guidance in order to estimate what the county will bring in this year so we can balance our budget. The county’s portion is 43% compared to 57% for the state and the county’s portion of this TAVT is then split out in 3 categories with 1/3 of that amount going to the school system, 1/3 being split between the county and cities according to our LOST sales tax agreement, and the final 1/3 going to the county for SPLOST sales tax. As far as expenses go with this budget, most is the same. Postage and computer support have gone up though 1 of her positions went from full-time to part-time in order to save money for her department. Click here to read about the changes on sale of new and used motor vehicles.
Department 61 – Recreation
This was presented by Kevin Teate, Director of Pike County Parks & Recreation. There is a total of $420,754 of projected expenses for next year but Parks & Rec is only asking for $309,162 due to anticipated revenues from league signups for the leagues that are being run by Parks & Rec as well as revenue from concession sales. Revenues to date are about $73,000 and these amounts are used to pay for the annual Daddy-Daughter Dance, the annual summer Movie in the Park series, tournaments, and debt service on the service lights because Parks & Rec does not ask the county for money to fund these events. These events are paid for out of the revenues from leagues and concessions. He advised that Parks & Rec were not running any youth sports programs when he first came there. The board decided not to ask for that money from the county and just cover it from the revenues generated by these events. It probably all equals out the same doing things the way that they do. They have started taking responsibility for these after he came here. Mr. Teate said that he wasn’t asked for revenues until last year so he started providing it then, but this helps offset some of the costs to the county so the cost of these events should cover these expenses. Director Teate said that they are trying to be good stewards of the money that they generate and are providing detailed expense reports every month to the county. Technically should add these programs into the final cost for running this department and subtract the amount of revenues and that brings the need to $274,080. He asked for for $7,000 for a new mower that will be replacing an old mower, $10,000 for park improvements--like program started a few years ago to replace fencing around the park, and a possible raise for full-time employees. Has 1 employee there 4 ½ years is making the same as 1 who has only been there 7 months so asking for a raise on the employee who has been here longer. 5 total employees this year. Last year’s budget had 6 employees. Last year, they took 1 furlough day per month that the Parks & Rec Board did give back to them through concession revenue. Walking through the numbers with Mr. Morton, he came to a recommendation of $274,080 based on this year’s expenses, revenues, etc. Parks & Rec pays a 3% admininstration fee on maintenance and extra 2% on fuel that they get from the county. Anybody who buys gas from the county has to pay a maintenance fee and administration fee not including the Sheriff's Office. Their total is $337. This goes all of the way back to when Sean Townsend was the finance officer. Mr. Morton questioned the need for this fee. Pike County Parks & Rec operates under the supervision of the Parks & Recreation Authority, but reports its expenditures to the county because they get funding from the county.
Department 42 – Road Department
Director of Public Works, Todd Goolsby, made this presentation. Discussion of the LMI Grant which used to be called LARP and is money sent to us by the state of Georgia that requires a 30% match from Pike County because we did not approve the T-SPLOST. We received $315,299.91 this year from LMIG that can possibly be matched through the leftover amount in the SPLOST after the Courthouse is completed. Our portion is $144,589.97. We are required to spend this money on specific roads as applied for in the grant. Click here to read about it. Mr. Morton then went through this line by line. They have made some repairs to Magistrate Court but it needs more. Damage was examined under CM Bill Sawyer but it was never followed through on. Now the damage is so old that insurance will not cover it. Discussion of county cell phones for this department. He said that his employees who have these phones are on call 24/7 and are not abusing these phones and only use them for county business and that it would cause a problem if someone used their personal phone and went over their minutes on it because of county business. They have bottled water for this department. They are on the end of a water line from the city and it stays muddy and rusty so they need the water. They fill up their coolers and take them on the road. The Road Department absorbs the costs of changing the oil for all vehicles in the county. Technically, if it was outsourced, each department would be paying for this. Kay said that if we go this route and all of this is separated, it would require additional work to keep this separated. Larger items are separated but not the oil changes because it is done from bulk oil and supply purchases. There will need to be an additional meeting to finish this out because they could not complete it today.
Library – Department 65
This is an authority that operates under the supervision of the Library Board. Librarian Rosemary Bunn made this presentation with the assistance of Library Board Member Lynn Hubbard. A letter of support from Nola Wade was given to the county. Mrs. Bunn brought documentation to the county including a spreadsheet with their proposed budget which has been approved by the Library Board. They are asking for an upgrade for their phone system which rolls over to fax if the one line is being used to speak to a patron. This cost is approximately $3,240. They currently have 1 full-time worker with 3 part time workers—2 are 16 hours and 1 is 29 hours. They are asking for 2 full-time workers with benefits and plus 3 part-time workers (no benefits) to cover regular library services plus special community programs such as weekly children’s story hours, adult literacy programs, etc. Donn Smith and Rosemary Bunn came to work at the library in July of last year. The increased budget will also allow staff to receive benefits which are received by all other libraries in our library system. They are asking for $170,331 next year. They received $100,000 last year and $98,351 the previous year. Mr. Morton said that his projections show that the library could still budget 2 full-time workers with benefits and 2 part-time workers, the upgrade for the phone system, and the $12,000 due to the Flint River Regional Library System would come out to $115,040. This is going to be his recommendation. They are collaborating with groups in the community to be a viable library and bring in acquisitions from partners in the community. They had over 100 people at the library on a Saturday at their last program. They would like to make acquisitions and be able to do special programs. Available at the library is wifi, 10 public accessible public computers, a public meeting room, the GA History Room, microfilm with Pike County Journal issues and census info back to pre-1900, Zoo Atlanta DVD program where a family can get free tickets to go to the zoo, a pass for the Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts, a GA Parks Pass, a Go Fish Education Center pass, etc. Mr. Morton told them that the county is trying to appreciate your needs and still trying to be responsible with the citizens’ tax dollars.
Pike County Emergency Services (Fire Department) - Departments 80-89
There are 7 county fire stations in Pike County that have utilities and Meansville is covered by an intergovernmental agreement that requires $5,000 from the county. There are no supplies and no gear for training new people at this time. Some stations we own and some we rent so there are some differences between the amounts for the stations. 22 to 25 radios had to be replaced because they wouldn’t narrow-band to begin with. Some of their radios are over 10 years old. Deputy Chief Synder pointed out that PCES has been under spending moratoriums for the past 2 years. There are different needs in the 7 different stations from nozzles to hoses to extrication equipment to a generator for power lights if needed—like on the scene of an accident—to a totally new station on Gresham Road which is the oldest in the county and is a polling place but has a cracked ramp at the history that could be a safety hazard during voting and a set of bay doors that need replacement now. $537,765.00 has been requested. This includes replacing the Heavy Lift Air Bag System at $15,000, replacement of radios that would not narrow-band according to FCC regulations at $8,000, $6,000 to stock and replenish First Responder jump bags, $1,500 for medical kits on apparatus, $3,800 for four multi-gas detectors to measure carbon dioxide, oxygen, and explosive gases, $8,500 for a washer/extractor for decontamination and life-extension of turnout gear, $20,824 to continue replacing turnout gear, and $2,200 for National Fire Protection Association-compliant gloves and hoods, helmets/identification fronts and accountability tags. $318,700 was recommended by former CM Phillips.
Public Defender's Office - Department 28
The Public Defender’s Office Budget was presented by W. Allen Adams. The budget is exactly the same as last year. He said that he has had to live off of attrition but that he told county managers here and in this district that he would try to keep the costs the same for several years at $181,315. He has been in charge of the Public Defender’s Office for the past 3 years. He had to cut 1 position and cut some from another position last year because of state mandated increases. He said that he may have to ask for another person next year but is going to try to make it through this year. Salaries are the same this year as last year and are based on case load. He works on a fiscal year calendar for these 4 counties: Upson, Pike, Fayette, and Spalding. Past CM Phillips recommended going with $181,315. Mr. Adams said that he appreciated what this county and its commissioner have done for his department because it protects the freedoms of people in this country.Budget Hearing - April 15, 2013
ZEBULON - County Attorney and acting Interim County Manager Rob Morton, County Clerk Jo Ann Wrye, and Financial Officer Kay Landers were present in all meetings today. Commissioners Carol Bass and Tamra Jarrett attended the morning session as department heads came in to present their budget. Commissioner Carol Bass attended the afternoon session. Mr. Morton and those in attendance went through each department's budget line item by line item.
Commissioner’s Office – Department 13
There will be a Special Called Hearing about employee insurance at some point soon. Employees have to be notified about changes by May 1, 2013. Upcoming discussion will include whether to change employee insurance benefit from 85% across the board for the employee and the dependents to 80% employee and 75% dependent.
District Attorney's Office - Department 22
District Attorney Scott Ballard came in to make his presentation along with Susan from his office and made his own presentation. He gave a pitch for two new programs that he wants to implement. His budget last year was for $82,169. This year’s asking budget is for $97,997.01 plus $5,826 for utilities which would come to $103,323. They said that their health insurance went up last year and again this year tremendously. Retirement also went up again this year. He said that they laid off one person last year and three in the prior year.
The wish list is for $113,273.01 plus $5,826 for utilities. The two wish list items are for ways to try and “earn their keep”. The first is for $9,576 (our county’s portion of the total $126,000 and this would be in addition to $103,323 for their budget plus utilities) for forfeiture staff--an attorney plus and investigator--to use the RICO statute to full potential to go after criminal assets from drugs, gambling, etc. to make criminals pay as much as possible for their prosecution. Pike County would be awarded 1/25th of anything that is recovered under this program IF we help pay for the cost of it after victims are compensated. (1/25th of $200,000 would be $8,000… but… there is no guarantee on any of this.) The second is for the Fast Track Jail Program that would fund someone to pay special attention to jail costs across our district and try to help reduce costs for those with expensive health problems. Until sentencing occurs, the county has to pay for the cost of incarceration plus health costs that occur during incarceration. It was noted that the DA’s office is not supposed to be a revenue producer, but he said that this could help offset cost. The commissioners and Mr. Morton emphasized the need to keep taxes as low as possible here. DA Ballard praised the county for the new courthouse and for the support given to his department.
Planning and Development - Department 74
Planning and Development Director David Allen answered questions about his department.
First thing on the list was that the prior CM had $20,000 added under a line item for animal control under this department. Discussion that animal control needs to be in its own department. Director Allen uses his own cell phone so that will save the county over $250 dollars. They eliminated their water cooler a few years back when I understood that was going to be across the board. Apparently many other departments did not get rid of theirs so this is going to be part of a county wide department discussion about the water contracts. He said that he was trying to save as much money as possible in his department by cutting out what is not needed. There is one vehicle in this department.
Magistrate Court – Department 23
Magistrate Judge Marcia Callaway-Ingram made a presentation today. She explained that her budget was cut to the 8 month budget and then it was cut 5% the next year for a 12 month budget. She is asking for a full-time magistrate or the equivalent thereof in case two part-time employees are hired to fill this slot. The office is currently staffed with a full-time magistrate, a part-time magistrate, full-time clerk, and a part-time clerk of 24 hours per week. Prior to 2010 when she came in mid year, there was a full-time Magistrate, a full-time civil clerk, full-time clerk of criminal division, and a part-time clerk/clerical. The office currently has a former administrative law judge serving as an on-call magistrate at $14,400. She would like to bring in a 2nd full-time associate magistrate. She is currently trying to save money with the full-time clerk getting a supplement to serve as the on-call magistrate, but she said that this is overwhelming and she doesn’t want to burn out her employee. There are many things in her budget that are mandated by the state such as an interpreter if someone cannot speak english or if they are hard of hearing, have sight problems, etc. The 6 year average in Civil Cases is about 442.5 and 663.3 for Criminal Cases. The average annual case load is 1,105.80. There are also civil filings and warrants that are handled through this office. Funds brought into her office go to state mandated sources such as Jail Fund, Victims' Assistance Fund, Magistrate Retirement Fund, Law Library, Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, Indigent Defense Fund, etc. Magistrate Court is not a revenue-producer for Pike County and is not designed to be. It provides a service for the county. Magistrate Court handles civil claims, landlord/tenant problems, foreclosures, weddings, search warrant hearings, felony and misdemeanor arrest warrant hearings, bond hearings, probably cuase and commitment hearings, misdemeanor account fraid, county ordinance violations, and misdemeanor citations. Possibility of buying a drum for the commission copier as a replacement for the copier in Magistrate that is in bad shape instead of buying a new copier for Magistrate.
County Agent - Department 72
Helen Carter made this presentation. They have a minibus in this department. There is a problem with farmers and home owners not getting the services of a county agriculture and natural resources extension agent as we have had in the past. There is a proposal to share one day a week with a current employee who will give service to Pike County and available by phone. $15,000 is the bare minimum for an agent. Mr. Morton asked for a salary breakdown on this person because $15,000 per year for one day a week's work would give them more county money than Mrs. Carter. Agent salaries are county and state funded. The state will not even consider looking at the county for an agent if the money is not in the budget. She will get a breakdown of this. There is no one in the office who can provide the services needed for agricultural questions in our community. She only asked the county to compensate $500 out of $1500 in training that was required last year in an effort to meet her budget. Mr. Morton asked for a copy of this documentation.
Discussion for all Departments
Get AT&T to look over all of the phone lines in the county in every single department. Discussion about employees using cell phones with possible compensation that will save the county money. Discussion about a possible 2% raise for employees. Again, nothing is final until there is a vote from the commissioners on the budget and anything else that comes from this discussion.
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