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September 30, 2008

County passes $36M budget

Employees will see varying pay raises

By Rich Flowers News Editor

After a summer of number crunching, the Henderson County Commissioners Court approved a $36 million budget Monday and a tax rate that is a cent below the 2007 figure. Each vote was 4-1 with Pct. 3 Commissioner Ronny Lawrence opposed.

The tax rate of $.476016 per $100 valuation is expected to bring more than $1 million additional dollars into the county coffers. With about half of those funds the county was able to give an across the board $1,320 pay increase to employees.

“It’s a forward thinking budget,” County Judge David Holstein said, “with plans to deal with longterm projects. We’d like to see lower costs, but that’s not going to happen. We were able to cut the tax rate, although not as much as we’d have liked.”

A change in the 2009 budget over previous years was dividing the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department budget from a single package into separate budgets for field operations and jail operations.

“We did that to provide for better management of funds,” Pct. 2 Commissioner Wade McKinney said. “It will help in determining the costs of operating the jail versus the normal function of law enforcement such as patrols and investigations. It will help us get a better feel for where our money is going.”

McKinney said the sheriff’s department budget was $7.9 million in 2008. In 2009 field operations account for $4,010,632 while the jail is budgeted $4,430,415.

The 2009 budget also includes a 16.6 percent increase in funds allocated for District Attorney Scott McKee’s prosecution division from $917,398 to $1,068,438. The department will include an investigator and a warrant officer, increasing the full time salaries for the department by about $56,000.

The county attorney budget took an 11.3 percent hit, dropping from $805,642 to $717,676. The number of employees in the department was trimmed to 11 with the elimination of one attorney’s position.

Lawrence said he opposes the additional raises such as the $2,884 increase for constables and $2,000 for sheriff’s department field operations personnel. He said the raises are unfair because most employees received only a $1,320 cost of living increase.

“It’s unfair to give that kind of raise,” Lawrence said. “They’re driving a county vehicle for personal use. The sheriff’s department has put a policy forth to stop some of that, but it won’t stop the constables.”

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