Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

$155,000 Increase Over Last Year Requested

Nevada County is broke.

The county does still have money to operate, but with the same budgets in 1996 as it had in 1995 the county does not expect revenues to be large enough to pay for the budgets.

And, unlike the federal government, which can operate in the red, the county must show fiscal responsibility and only budget up to 90% (expenditures cannot exceed this) of its estimated and real revenue.

Nevada County officials are requesting $155,000 more than last year's $1,131,762 budget.

Increases show up in requests by Nevada County Sheriff Harold Vines in his budget by $90,000; in Tax Assessor Barbara Butler in her budget by over $36,000 and in the courthouse maintenance budge by $17,000.

Some budgets show only minor increases while few show only miniscule decreases.

The request for funds in 1996 breaks down like this: (first amount was budgeted in 1995 while the second amount is the request for 1996).

• County Judge -- $34,936, $34,936;
• County Clerk -- $63,233, $63,233;
• Circuit Clerk -- $66,109, $62,662;
• Treasurer -- $43,811, $43,814;
• Sheriff -- $189,219 (plus additional $22,009 was requested and granted in 1995), $279,030;
• Collector -- $59,300, $60,392;
• Assessor -- $63,250, $100,917;
• Equalization board -- $1,600, $1,675;
• Judge Gunter -- $8,904, $9,086;
• Judge Griffin -- $8,697, $8,541;
• Probate Court -- $600, $600;
• Municipal Court -- $28,191, $30,660;
• Judge Purifoy -- $8,825, $8,582;
• Jurors/Witness -- $6,500, $6,500;
• Quorum Court -- $29,499, $30,075;
• Judge Hudson -- $9,849, $9,357;
• Juvenile Intake -- $12,688, $13,234;
• Prosecutor/DPA -- $35,579, $39,339
• Courthouse Maintenance -- $52,073, $69,013
• County Jail -- $221,945 (plus additional $1,210 was requested and granted in 1995), $218,775;
• Health Office -- $13,512 (plus additional $1,161 was requested and granted in 1995), $12,112;
• Election -- $5,850, $10,850;
• Coroner -- $3,187, $3,476;
• Civil Defense -- $11,674, $11,874;
• Ambulance -- $72,000 (plus additional $25,000 was requested and granted in 1995), $72,000;
• Extension Office -- $11,386, $15,385;
• Grants & Aid -- $14,115, $16,115;
• Other County Expenses -- $55,225, $55,225;
• County Library -- $22,098, $22,098;
• Solid Waste -- $306,870, $456,796;
• and Road & Bridge -- $930,127, $945,323.

The revenue for the final three budgets to operate on can only be used for those budgets also.

A committee of Billy Bob Rhodes, Jamye Barnes and Leo Holleman met Tuesday night to discuss the first the county judge, county clerk and treasurer budgets.

It is assumed JPs will have to cut some budgets and possibly some jobs in the county offices in order to balance.