County Budget Committee Holds First Meeting on New Budget

April 11, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County budget committee met Tuesday evening at the courthouse to begin making plans for the 2024-25 operating budget.

Half of the 14-member county commission makes up the budget committee including 1st district commissioner Tom Chandler, 2nd district commissioner Sabrina Farler, 3rd district commissioner Susannah Cripps, 4th district commissioner Tony (Cully) Culwell,, 5th district commissioner Glynn Merriman, 6th district commissioner Jeff Barnes who serves as chairman of the budget committee, and 7th district commissioner Mathias Anderson. Chandler was absent.

The committee heard budget requests from a few county public officials and department heads at the meeting including the sheriff, general sessions/juvenile court judge, circuit court clerk, administrator of elections, as well as from directors of two non-profit groups, the chamber of commerce and rescue squad. County Mayor Matt Adcock reviewed with the budget committee the estimated revenues and expenditures of the county general fund budget for the new year which is subject to change if cuts are made or new spending is added based on funding requests from the various departments

Salaries, which have gone up in recent years and are now significantly impacting the budget, are going up again. Pay increases have been plugged into the proposed new spending plan for county public officials as mandated by the state as well as for employees in the county general government based on what they are due to earn under their tiered salary scales.

Sheriff Patrick Ray, during his budget presentation, urged the committee to not tamper with the existing wage scale for employees.

“I made myself a promise when I got elected to always take care of my employees and I would appreciate your consideration for the pay raises (for employees). I know it’s a tight year but I think we owe it to our employees of each office to get raises. That’s how we retain people here, especially in my office. Its hard to find anybody to work anyway and then to make them work in corrections is about impossible. A lot of places are giving sign-on bonuses and incentives. I talked to the county emergency services committee the other night. There are grants out there for that (sign-on bonuses) but how am I going to explain to a high tiered deputy that I am giving somebody $10,000 to stay and them make more than my higher tiered deputies. That’s not really a good way to retain somebody. I ask that you consider all county employees, not just mine because I’m sure they have problems just like me in finding somebody to come to work that is trustworthy and doesn’t have an arrest record. Its hard to find people like that,” said Sheriff Ray.

As for his budget, Sheriff Ray said one of the biggest changes is an increase of $33,000 to the county from the company that provides inmate health care, Fast Access Corrections Health Care of Chattanooga.

“Our health care costs have gone up about $33,000 from the current contracted amount of $400,900. We met with them about two months ago and learned that everyone, and it doesn’t matter what health care company we use, will have a higher number (cost) this year versus last year because their malpractice insurance has gone sky high,” said Sheriff Ray. “About all of them are requiring the county to be responsible for the medicine that the inmates receive. For years they (inmate healthcare provider) have always furnished medication in their bid other than anything for HIV, cancer, and other things they don’t pay for. The reason their malpractice insurance costs went up is because some lawyer got with all the jails that had contracted medical health services and had noticed that in their contracts, the health care companies had supplied the medicines, so they went back and sued those companies saying you are saving money by not giving needed medication to inmates therefore they are suffering, hurting, or dying. That is the reason all of them have opted out of that (providing medication) this year because their malpractice insurance went so high,” said Sheriff Ray.

The medications will continue to be provided by IHS Pharmacy, the company with whom Fast Access does business, but the county will now have to bear those costs.

Projections on paper currently show that the county might be in the red by as much as $835, 576 at year’s end (June 30, 2025) but County Mayor Adcock said that’s only if everything is spent as budgeted and that is not likely.

“Our preliminary total expenditures budgeted for now are $13,437,467 and that is $835,576 more than revenues. If you take what we have coming in as revenues and we collect every penny that we budget to bring in and then spend every dollar and every penny we budget to spend, we would be going in the hole by $835, 576. Obviously, we have never done that. All of our department heads are very conservative and good about turning money back in at the end of the year. Not everybody is going to spend everything budgeted but these numbers give you an idea of what we are looking at. It shows that the fund balance for July 1, 2024 would be $6,486,486 but by June 30, 2025 the fund balance would drop to $5,650,910 if we overspend by $835,576,” said County Mayor Adcock.

April 11, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad is asking the county to spend over $122,000 to replace with used models all the agency’s portable, and mobile radios, and at least four repeaters.

Rescue Squad Captain Dustin Johnson addressed the county commission’s budget committee Tuesday night with the request. According to Johnson, the cost of new radios is more than $400,000 but he can make do with used radios which are cheaper.

“We are not asking for any more money in our budget,” said Captain Johnson. “We just want you to think about our radios. To replace all our radios is something like $400,000 but I have talked to Brad (Mullinax-911 Director) and I have come up with a plan. Starting to come on the market are used radios and I think for $122,870 we can replace all of them and have four repeaters in our vehicles. I couldn’t just go buy them tomorrow, but they are coming online, and Brad said he could buy them when he finds them online. If you (county) have any extra money, think about that so we could get our radios. I hate to go used but sometimes you have to do that,” said Captain Johnson.

If the county can’t fund the total amount of $122,870 in the new budget for the total purchase, Johnson said he would like to see at least some seed money be allocated.

Under an arrangement approved by the county commission earlier this year, a one- time expenditure of $1.3 million is to be made in a joint venture between the county and the 911 board to replace radios for the sheriff’s department and ambulance service through Motorola Solutions, except for the EMS mobile radios the state is going to fund. The Motorola radios are to be under warranty for seven years. The county and 911 are to share the cost with the county contributing $600,000 and 911 to put in $700,000. The purchase of mobile radios for the county’s fire trucks, which can be bought for half price, is also included in this package. Radios for the rescue squad were not included in that deal.

The budget committee has taken no action yet on Johnson’s request.

Meanwhile, County Commissioner Greg Matthews wants each member of the commission and county mayor to have tablet computers instead of having to work off paper documents, especially around budget preparation time and he addressed the budget committee with his request Tuesday night.

“I am requesting for us to switch over to tablets and do away with all this paper, ink getting wasted, and time spent for thousands of sheets of paper getting copied and printed every year. It will cut back on a lot of waste and a lot of money in the long run. I don’t know what it would cost yet because there are different prices. There are 14 of us (commissioners) plus the mayor and whoever so we would probably need around 20 tablets. I would like to ask for $5,000 to be put back for the equipment and what doesn’t get spent can be returned,” said Commissioner Matthews.

April 11, 2024
By:

The Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce has presented Love-Cantrell Funeral Home with a 65-Year Milestone Award, commemorating their six and a half decades of unwavering commitment to serving the community with compassion, dignity, and professionalism, according to Chamber Director Suzanne Williams

“Founded three generations ago, Love-Cantrell Funeral Home has upheld a tradition of excellence, providing personalized services that honor and celebrate the lives of those who have passed on,” said Williams.

“As they embark on the next chapter of their journey, Love-Cantrell Funeral Home remains committed to upholding the values of integrity, respect, and love that have defined their decades of service to the community,” Williams said