County passes $8.5M budget

By Holli Keaton (Contact) | Troy Messenger

Published Monday, September 28, 2009

The Pike County Commission approved a budget Monday that grants annual raises to county employees and leaves some to spare.

The roughly $8.5 million budget, that includes both funds for the road department and general fund, also gives commissioners $4,600 each to spend on local agencies or travel, a deal breaker for some commissioners.

District 3 Commissioner Jimmy Barron, who has been against high discretionary funds from the start, proposed commissioners take $15,000 off the top of the $27,600 fund and donate the money to the Pike County 4-H group. Representatives of 4-H came before the commission Monday in hopes of earning these funds.

Barron and District 4’s Ray Goodson were the only two in support of the plan, which would lower each commissioner’s discretionary fund to $2,100 a year. All other commissioners voted against Barron’s proposal.

“We had agreed to that three meetings ago, and I felt like we should leave it like it was,” said District 1 Commissioner Homer Wright.

Commission Chairman Robin Sullivan said he voted against giving the extra money to 4-H out of fairness to other agencies.

“The way I see it, all our agencies are worthy to receive appropriations,” Sullivan said. “If we go and add to one, we should do it for all of them. That’s why I voted against it.”

The local 4-H does earn some money from the commission’s sales tax appropriations fund, which is $150,000 dispersed to county agencies. The amounts given to each agency are determined by the mayors of Troy and Brundidge and the commission chairman each year.

Of those, 4-H is given $10,000 each year, something Extension Agent Tammy Powell said she is grateful to receive. The $15,000 requested was to fund an assistant position the office has had in the last year.

The appropriations list, which donates money to 18 different organizations locally, was approved by all commissioners but Wright. “It’s not disbursed equally,” Wright said.

Considering financial hardships, Sullivan said the county’s budget is one of the best he’s seen, especially since the commission proposes an extra $148,000 will be left to its reserves.

“This is the best budget we’ve had since I’ve been a commissioner,” he said. “It’s the first time in four full years we went through a year and did not borrow money to operate.”

Earlier this year, the commission did borrow money to match a federal grant, but it was repaid by state funds. “I want to thank all the elected officials in this county,” Sullivan said.

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