Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Court approves "bare bones" budget

There will be no raises for county employees this year.

The Nevada County Quorum Court's budget committee presented this news at the December meeting. The county's anticipated revenue for 2005 is $1,740,003, and only 90 percent of this can be appropriated. This gives the county a budget of $1,566,003 for the annual general budget. In essence, this is $53,000 less than last year's budget. Additionally, the county's insurance provider went up about $12,000, which took a deeper bite out of an already strained budget.

All elected officials were urged to keep their costs down, as the court doesn't want to have to fire anyone because of the budget.

Bob Cummings, chairman of the budget committee, said in order to balance the budget two officials had to pay deputies from their budgets instead of out of county general. While most offices kept their budgets in line with 2004, one requested more funds  the Nevada County Coroner's Office.

Cummings said the office's budget was about $6,000 last year, but the request was for $17,000. "It wasn't in the budget to give. We recommended leaving it as it is. We wanted to leave more on the table."

In fact, Cummings recommended not hiring part-time help this year when someone is absent or gone. "We're at a point where there's nothing there in the budget," he said. "We need to hold salaries down."

He recommended Christmas bonuses for full-time employees only, and the bonuses be $50. The court agreed.

Myrna Waters, also on the budget panel, said, "We know everyone's cut back as much as they can. If state turnback is decreased we'll have to talk about it. It will be a big problem."

Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown said the county has cut the budget to the bare bones for the last 6-8 years so the county can keep working the way it's been working. "There's nothing left to cut but employees," he said, "and we don't want to do that."

There is a six-month difference in the fiscal year between the state and the county. The county operates on a calendar year, while the state's fiscal year is from July 1 to June 30. Brown said the county would be all right for six months, but if the turnback money is cut, the court will be back working on the budget in July.

"The legislature doesn't want to cut the turnback money," he said, "but there is a problem with school buildings. They've got to come up with the money somewhere. I hope it's not turnback money."

The only budget the court didn't address at the December meeting was the library budget. Traditionally, this budget is approved in January after the county sees what the city has done. Brown said the library's millage provides $20,000 a year, but this isn't enough to operate the new facility.

In the county general budget, the judge's budget was reduced from $31,197 to $28,269. The county clerk's went up from $90,240 to $91,078, while the circuit clerk's was reduced from $91,389 to $89,886.

The treasurer's budget was changed from $57,598 to $58,333, while the sheriff's budget went from $250,279 to $251,874. There was a significant drop in the collector's budget as it was reduced from $135,079 to $91,7565.

The assessor's budget was changed from $198,343 to $188,141. The equalization board's budget remained unchanged at $2,750. Judge Jim Gunter's budget rose from $15,812 to $15,973, but will likely have to be addressed again as Gunter was elected to the Arkansas Supreme Court.

The probate budget stayed at $600, while municipal court went from $51,260 to $54,851. The flood plain budget dropped from $14,945 to 9,520. The budget for witnesses/jurors was unchanged at $15,500.

The quorum court's budget went from $37,068 to $37,046. But, the juvenile court budget increased from $23,686 to $25,949. The juvenile intake budget also rose from $28,047 to $28,845. DPA dropped from $18,321 to $18,300.

Courthouse maintenance rose from $87.759 to $88,004, with the county jail budget going from 4284,661 to $289,640. The Health Department's funds were increased from $15,700 to $16,300. The election budget remained the same at $11,600.

The coroner's budget also was left unchanged at $5,905, as was the civil defense budget, at $12,942.

Allocations for the Nevada County Ambulance Service were reduced from $45,000 to $35,000. The extension office's budget went from $19,607 to $21,802. Grants and Aids was unchanged at $11,493, with other county expenses being changed from $30,714 to $32,759.

The 2004 general fund budget was $1,589,509, with the 2005 budget being $1,536,129. The road and bridge changed by the grand total of 60 cents. The 2004 budget was $1,353,153.31, while the 2005 budget will be $1,353,152.71.

As the meeting ended, Brown presented a plaque to Gary Lewis for his 12 years of service on the court.