Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Budget limits county plans

Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown doesnt have a lot of plans for 2006, other than trying to get as much done as possible.

Part of the reason is a limited budget where the general funds are concerned.

However, Brown said he will work to upgrade the equipment for the road and bridge department as well as for solid waste. I want to leave whoever the new judge is in good shape. The budgets for these two departments are separate from the general fund.

But, with grant money the county has received, Brown plans on getting the roof over the back part of the courthouse replaced. State Sen. Percy Malone and State Rep. Tommy Roebuck recently brought the county a check for $50,000 to help cover the cost of the repairs. The county, Brown said, had other funds set aside for this project, but had to wait until it had enough to do the whole job at once.

One of Browns major plans is to auction off the old hospital building and the equipment in it. The building and equipment will be sold separately. However, the equipment will be auctioned off in one lot  all or nothing. According to Brown, the hospital building and land will be sold as surplus property.

When we thought we could get someone in it (the old hospital), he said, we tried to preserve it. But its gotten to the point where we cant.

Right now, Brown said, the county needs a good hard rain, followed by several days of soaking rain. This will make it easier for the road crews to pull ditches and scrape roads. Nevada County cant afford the people and equipment to do like the Arkansas Highway Department and bush hog everything. We do the main roads first and get everything done we can. We try to get all the roads done every year. We try to work all parts of the county the same.

Solid waste and the road and bridge department budgets, he said, are in better shape now than at any time he can remember, and he plans on leaving them that way when he leaves office.

Some people think we need to spend the money thats in there, but theres a lot they dont know. Brown said the best thing to do with these budgets, especially road and bridge, is to be conservative in case of bad weather or other emergencies.

He pointed out the county could be in serious financial trouble if there were another winter like those of 2000 and 2001 with the ice and snow. The county, he said, was lucky to get 100 percent funding those years. Normally the federal government pays 75 percent of disasters with the state picking up 12.5 percent. This leaves 12.5 percent for the county to pay  and, depending on the disaster, this could be several hundred thousand dollars.