County Budget Work Includes Cuts To Travel Expenses
Yalobusha County Public Library System Director Patty Bailey made a plea for a budget increase to keep the two county operated libraries from reducing hours. Bailey explained the money was needed after state funding cuts. Bailey and other department heads presented their budgets during meetings held August 1 and 8.
County Budget Work Includes Cuts To Travel Expenses
By David Howell
Editor
WATER VALLEY – Working in back to back budget meetings held August 1 and 8, supervisors approved expenditures for the coming fiscal year that required some tough cuts to compensate for shrinking revenue following a drop in the assessed value of the county. The budget work was completed after an almost five-hour meeting on August 8 and included reducing travel expenses by half for elected officials, starting with supervisors, and extending to most departments with funding currently allocated for travel that is not mandated by state law.
Other cuts came after each department’s budget was reviewed and ranged from paper supplies to office equipment.
The budget also included a few increases for some departments, most notably a $50,000 increase to the sheriff’s budget to curtail overtime costs reflected in the current budget that could be almost $80,000 over when the current fiscal years ends on September 30.
A handful of county employees received raises after supervisors explained the intent was to ensure they were compensated comparably with other employees with similar experience, or for employees who had assumed additional duties after cost-saving measures were implemented earlier in the year that required additional duties.
Court reporters who work in chancery and circuit court also received a small raise after the group explained they had not had an increase in almost a dozen years.
The county’s library system also received more money after library director Patty Bailey explained the Mississippi Library Com-mission had cut her budget $6,200 as part of statewide budget cuts earlier in the year. Bailey explained that without additional county funding to offset the loss, the only answer would be to reduce operating hours or not purchase any books in the coming fiscal year that starts in October.
The August meetings are part of the budget process that will lead to the final adoption of the budget prior to October 1 and will not include a millage increase.
