PRESENT: NANCY
CARTMILL, PRESIDENT
L.
D. EGNOR, COMMISSIONER
ROBERT
L. BAILEY, COMMISSIONER
WILLIAM
T. WATSON,
GLENN
WHITE,
SHARON
ROSS, ASSISTANT
BILLABLES
AND PAYABLES
Nancy Cartmill, President, called the special meeting of
the Cabell County Commission to order at
#062 FISCAL YEAR 2004/2005 BUDGET
DELIBERATION WITH
Nancy Cartmill, President, stated Glenn White, County Manager, had taken all the information the County Officeholders had given to him and compiled the information and after adding in the cost of the regional jail it showed the county budget approximately 2.8 million dollars short.
President Cartmill further stated Mr. White went back to the current level of funding for each officeholder then added the cost of the regional jail and the county budget was still approximately about two million dollars short. President Cartmill then stated it was obvious that with the revenues available for this Commission to use to fund the necessary functions of county government, there were not enough funds to go around and it appeared the Commission would have to choose whether to fund the officeholders at a level which would permit them to carry out their constitutional duties or the Commission could fund the cost associated with incarcerating inmates in the regional jail, but the Commission cannot do both. President Cartmill stated she was in favor of funding the officeholders at a satisfactory level and to pay the regional jail cost from what was left, until the funding was gone.
President Cartmill said the Commission was here today to discuss the situation with the officeholders and to listen to their ideas. President Cartmill went on to say the Commission would like to hear from each officeholder on how their office would be impacted if the Commission were to adopt a budget that would set funding at the level originally approved for the fiscal year 2003-2004.
Glenn White,
PAGE TWO
Adell Chandler, Circuit Clerk, stated she could not do without her software program or any less staff and she would need her copier cost. Ms. Chandler further stated she felt she had run her office on a bare bones budget for so long, that when cuts start the officeholders are the ones it hurts the most. Ms. Chandler stated she might, however, have money in another budget line item she could move so if the budget stayed the same she should be alright.
Robert L. Bailey, Commissioner, asked the officeholders if they knew about the money the Commission was required by law to give to the Cabell County Public Library and the Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District.
Nancy Cartmill, President, informed the officeholders the Commission was required to fund the library and the park system about 1.5 million dollars a year and that amount comes off the top of the funds.
Ms. Chandler asked if the Commission was working with the Legislature to do something about the amount of money that was given to the park system and the library.
Ottie Adkins,
L. D. Egnor, Commissioner, explained this money did not come to the Commission, it was taken from the top before it reaches them, as pursuant to the statute.
Ms. Chandler asked if the Commission would be able to fund any out-side agencies and Commissioner Bailey replied they were unable to do so.
Commissioner Egnor explained that just to maintain the funding levels of last year required the Commission to confront the fact that they could not pay the Regional Jail expenses. Commissioner Egnor further stated it was the intension of the Commission to place the priority on the officeholders first and not the Regional Jail.
Karen Cole,
Commissioner Bailey stated the Commission was doing everything possible to fund the officeholders. Commissioner Bailey further stated he hated not to fund the volunteer fire department, but the Commission had to fund the elected officeholders first.
Mr. Adkins, County asked the Commission if they were scrutinizing their own expenditures on the budget like they were asking the officeholders to do and President Cartmill replied yes they were.
PAGE THREE
Mrs. Cole stated she could not afford to lose any staff, but she would look and see if she could cut items in her budget.
Kim Wolfe,
President Cartmill stated the
Commission was looking into a grant for a
Commissioner Bailey stated
Mr. Adkins asked if the Commission had looked to see if the cities could file more city charges instead of state charges and to look into the pre-trial frame which keeps prisoners in jail longer. Mr. Adkins was told the Prosecutor was working on a program to keep the jail cost down.
Mr. Chiles stated he had made a proposal to the Commission on keeping costs down for housing prisoners but it depended on how the Commission funds his office that would determine what programs could be established. Mr. Chiles said there were grants that would be expiring soon and that would mean a loss of personnel if his funding went back to the amount of the current budget. President Cartmill asked Mr. Chiles if he would be able to find money in his budget to do these things. Mr. Chiles replied he might be able to cut expenditures in his supply line.
Commissioner Bailey asked when an employee retired or left employment, and if that employee’s salary was higher, could the new employee’s salary be reduced in order to save money.
Tom Bell, Chief Tax Deputy, for the Tax Department, asked the Commission if a copy of the tentative budget would be available for people to look at since the Commission was asking for comments on saving money and did the Commission look at their budget to see where they could save money. President Cartmill informed Mr. Bell the Commission was asking each officeholder to look at their budgets to see if they could cut cost and, yes, the Commission had looked at their budget as well.
PAGE FOUR
Mr. Bell asked the Commission if they still had the $108,000.00 in their budget for the payments on the voting machines to which they replied they did. Mr. Bell then asked if the Commission could pay off the loan using the funds from the Building Fund. President Cartmill informed Mr. Bell the Building Fund money had restrictions on how it was to be used but they would take his suggestion under consideration.
Mr. Adkins asked who set the rates for housing prisoners in the Regional Jails. President Cartmill told Mr. Adkins it was the Jail Authority Board and she expected the cost to go even higher.
Commissioner Egnor stated the Legislators had given municipalities some options on receiving revenues but not the counties.
There was a lengthy discussion on
the issues of Home Confinement, a
Sheriff Wolfe stated his tax revenues were up a little this year and he believed it was because his department had been going after delinquent taxpayers.
Mr. White suggested this meeting be recessed until the following day to give the officeholders time to respond to the Commission’s request and to give them figures for their current budget if they so wished.
L. D. Egnor, Commissioner, moved
to recess this meeting at
President Cartmill stated she would be glad to discuss the budget with any of the officeholders prior to the meeting.
ROBERT L. BAILEY, COMMISSIONER
WILLIAM T. WATSON,
GLENN WHITE,
SHARON ROSS, ASSISTANT
BILLABLES AND PAYABLES
ABSENT: L. D. EGNOR, COMMISSIONER
PAGE FIVE
Nancy Cartmill, President, reconvened the recessed meeting
of
President Cartmill stated she and Mr. White had the opportunity to meet with Ottie Adkins and Chris Chiles to discuss their budgets.
Robert L. Bailey, Commissioner, stated he believed the Commission should meet with the Chief Judge, the Prosecutor and the Magistrates in trying to keep non-violent offenders out of jail and to use Home Confinement instead, which would save the county money.
President Cartmill stated several people had told the Commission that if the County had started a Day Reporting Center it would have saved the County a considerable amount of money, however, yesterday she had been informed that the same people who would be at this reporting center were already on Home Confinement, therefore, the County would not be saving any money.
President Cartmill stated she believed that expanding Home Confinement would be the way to go to save the county money.
William Watson,
There was a lengthy discussion on the cost of a
President Cartmill stated, for the record, she was very disappointed that Sheriff Wolfe had not attended the meeting today and the Sheriff did not choose to meet with her and Mr. White about his budget. President Cartmill further stated the increases that Sheriff Wolfe had requested in his budget were far greater than the requests of any other officeholder.
Commissioner Bailey stated he would like to ask the Sheriff about his drug accounts, the weapons accounts and his self-defense account, to see if the Sheriff had excess money. Commissioner Bailey further stated the Sheriff received the interest from these accounts and the Commission did not know how much the Sheriff makes from this interest.
President Cartmill stated the Commission should ask the Sheriff how much money was in these accounts and then take a look to see if they would want to continue to allow the Sheriff to keep the interest from the accounts or if the Commission should receive the interest. President Cartmill further stated that if the Sheriff was using the interest money in a responsible way that was fine, but when you see a horse trailer being purchased then the Commission should look into how the interest money was being spent.
PAGE SIX
Commissioner Bailey stated he believed the funds should be audited but suggested sending a letter to Sheriff Wolfe requesting information on all the special accounts the Sheriff over-sees that are not included in his budget for the fiscal year 2003-2004.
Commissioner Bailey asked if the Sheriff had permission to
invest the money for the Board of Education, City of
President Cartmill stated in discussing the budget
yesterday, Circuit Clerk Adell Chandler stated she would be alright with the
Commission’s decision;
President Cartmill informed the Commission that they
needed to direct Glenn White,
More discussion was held concerning the holding facility, about who mans the facility and who transports the prisoners from the holding facility to the Courtroom. The Commission agreed to get a ruling from the Supreme Court.
William Watson, County Attorney, stated the one thing the Commission needed to do was to instruct Mr. White to remove the budget allocation from the Sheriff’s Drug Investigation account (line 01-700-33-00) and place the appropriation in contingency until the Commission received the information on the Sheriff’s Drug Account, Weapons Account and the Self-Defense Fund Account and could make a decision on whether funding the Drug Investigation account was still necessary given the other sources of funds available to the Sheriff.
Glenn White,
Robert L. Bailey, Commissioner, moved to direct the County manger to prepare the 2004-2005 County Budget as outlined in this meeting. Nancy Cartmill, President, seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous.
President Cartmill adjourned the meeting at 11:05 a.m., until the next regular schedule meeting March 25, 2004 at 10:00 a.m.
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PRESIDENT, COUNTY COMMISSION
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