Commission allows judge to give pay raises

A series of amendments to the docket dominated the Warren County Commission meeting Monday night, leading commissioners to vote on reopening a resolution designed to equalize committee fees that had been tabled in last month’s meeting, approving a budget transfer in General Sessions Court, and changing the current construction loan on the Centertown School from a variable to a fixed interest rate, which could end up saving the county an estimated $600,000.

The three items were addressed in committee meetings after commissioner’s packets were sent out for the March meeting and were therefore not included in the published docket. The three amendments, and attached resolutions, were presented by newly appointed Budget and Finance Committee chairman Herschel Wells.

Commissioners voted to add all three amendments to the docket with the only negative vote coming from Commissioner Michael Martin on the General Sessions budget transfer in which Judge Larry Ross had requested to use funds left over in his budget after the resignation of an employee to provide raises for the remaining employees.

Martin had presented a resolution designed to block that move by prohibiting raises to county employees until the next year’s budget. That resolution had been voted down in the February meeting, and the Budget and Finance Committee subsequently voted 3-2 to allow the budget transfer.

The first item addressed was taking the resolution on committee fees off the table.

‘The reason we’d like to do this is that we would like to get all committees paid the same, except for certain committees,’ Wells said. ‘And those are the Industrial Development Board, which does not get paid anyway, the Airport Commission, the Equalization Board and the E911 board.’

The apparent inequity of the $100 per meeting paid to Planning Commission members, one of whom is a commissioner, while other commissioners are only paid $15 for regular committee meetings, is what generated the original resolution, also presented by Michael Martin.

‘What we like to do in our budget process this year is come up with a way for all the commissioners who serve on these committees to make the same amount of money,’ Wells said. ‘Whether that’s $15, or $30 or whatever is decided. We’ve just got to see what that will be and that will be brought back before the commission.’

With 20 of the 24 members present this resolution passed unanimously with a vote of 20-0. But the second of the three resolutions, the General Sessions budget transfer, generated a bit more controversy after it was presented for a vote by Wells.

‘During our meeting on March 6 the Budget and Finance Committee considered a General Fund budget amendment to transfer funds from the Youth Services Officer salary account of the Juvenile Court budget to the secretary salary account of the General Sessions budget,’ Wells said. ‘The committee voted 3-2 to recommend the budget amendment. It increases the secretary salary budget $1,700, taking away the expenditures of the Youth Services Officer of $1,700.

‘This is self-explanatory,’ Wells continued, ‘This is in Judge Ross’ court and Judge Ross brings into this county budget somewhere around $500,000 a year. He’s one of the first people to try to go out and collect these fines, and he does collect them. I recommend this and so move.’

At this point Commissioner Michael Martin addressed the chair.

‘I have a question,’ Martin said. ‘Since one of his salaries is set by a $10,000 grant, which we’re not going to get anymore, if we decide not to fund that whole thing in the next budget what’s going to happen when we move the money and he comes back to us for the salary’?

County Executive John Pelham addressed that question.

‘If he doesn’t receive that grant I would anticipate that would be reflected in his budget request,’ Pelham said. ‘And my personal opinion is we’ll just have to deal with that at that time.’

Judge Ross, who was present, was then called to the podium for comment.

‘We’ve gotten that grant as long as I’ve been here,’ Ross said. ‘And I don’t know of any reason we wouldn’t get it.’

The resolution ultimately passed with a vote of 18-2, with the two opposing votes coming from Martin and Terry Bell, who also posted the opposing votes in committee.

Wells then presented the third resolution concerning the variable rate Centertown School construction loan.

‘Cumberland Securities recommends the loan be converted to a fixed rate bond issue which will produce a potential savings of $600,000 over the lifespan of the loan.’

This resolution passed unanimously with a vote of 20-0.