The first reading of the 2011-12 fiscal year budget for county government was passed at a call meeting last Thursday morning, May 12. However, the passage was by a total split vote, with Judge/Executive Lyle Huff having to cast the tie-breaking vote.

The $4.5 million dollar plus budget for next fiscal year has been discussed and debated for the past several weeks, with the magistrates and judge/executive having differing opinions on amounts that should be included or deleted in the budget.

Because of financial difficulties the county is facing and shortfalls and budget crunches in some areas of county government, an original budget presented to magistrates for consideration had employee health insurance deleted altogether.

Also earlier this year, again due to budget shortfalls, a majority of court members voted to cut funding in the current year’s budget to the library and park from $12,500 to $6,500.

At a call meeting late last month, it appeared as if the court had reached a compromise in the form of keeping employee insurance available to county workers, but raising the amount of out-of-pocket coverage by about $50 per week per employee to help balance the budget for the coming fiscal year.

That measure basically kept the new 2011-12 budget about the same as the current 2010-11 year budget.

County Treasurer Dallas Sidwell said last week that basically the only changes made since the budget was prepared–other than the change in insurance amounts–was funds for a bridge replacement project. Also, the amounts included to the park board and library board have line items of $10,000 rather than the $12,500 that had been in the previous year’s budgets. A $3,000 allotment to the Chamber of Commerce toward the annual fireworks show is also still in the budget as presented.

Magistrate Willard Johnson made the motion to approve first reading and when a roll call vote was taken, the outcome resulted in a three-three tie among magistrates. Johnson, Patty Guinn and Charlotte Bernard voted yes with magistrates Mickey Riddle, Phillip Parrigin and Ricky Craig voting no. Judge/Executive Huff broke the tie with a yes vote.

Magistrate Riddle said the reason he voted against first reading was because “the budget has not been cut one dime.” He said that other than increasing employee insurance, the county wasn’t saving any money.

Both magistrates Riddle and Craig also indicated they thought the revised budget plan would see the library and park receiving a $6,500 figure that was voted on earlier this year, in lieu of the $10,000 amount budgeted.

Magistrate Johnson noted that even though the line items are in the budget with certain amounts, court members still have to ultimately approve the expenditures and also said he thought the budget agreement had been reached at the prior call meeting in late April.

Magistrate Bernard also said at that meeting, it was to her understanding that six people (meaning each magistrate) had indicated they would vote for its passage with the change in insurance premium amounts for employees.

Some dissenting magistrates, however, indicated they felt there shouldn’t have been any raises for some employees and that there should have been cuts in spending somewhere within the budget.

In relation to the budget, the court voted unanimously to approve a Standing Order allowing certain expenditures, such as payroll, utilities, etc. be paid prior to court approval.

The budget will not be forwarded to the state Department of Local Government (DLG) for approval until second and final reading is held, probably in June.

The total budget amount is $4,577,221.00.

The largest amounts in the proposed 2011-12 budget is the road fund at just over $1.1 million. The road fund is restricted in that monies cannot be used for any other purpose other than road related projects.

The ambulance service fund budget is also identical to the general fund amount, each with just over $1 million allocated. And, the jail budget was estimated at $582,600 for the upcoming fiscal year.

On a motion by magistrate Guinn, the court also voted to move forward on the bridge replacement project in the Cartwright Community, stipulated by the highway department as State Hwy. 350 Spur bridge, often referred to as the Stony Point bridge near the church.

The county had originally been allocated $80,000 in FLEX funds on an 80/20 matching basis.

Judge/Executive Huff, in early April, requested emergency funding beyond that amount and early this month the state announced the approval of a $116,000 total amount–with the 80/20 match.

Early estimates for replacement of the bridge were around $145,000.

The vote last week authorizes the judge/executive to proceed with getting an engineer’s estimate of the cost before proceeding with any type of bid advertisements. Funds to replace the bridge would come from the road fund.

The only other item of business at last week’s call meeting was approval of some fund transfers as presented by the county treasurer.

The next regular meeting of Clinton Fiscal Court is scheduled for this Thursday, May 19 at 5 p.m. at the judge/executive’s office and is open to the general public.