Budget & FInance 811/2026

[00:00:04] I'm going to take you to the house. We'll just see what time it is. Oh yeah, it's a $200. Now, if we needed one or two to extend that, they're all WWs so they'll hook. Well my thing is, we're going to have to build a holding pin.

[00:00:33] There's going to have to be a holding pin like I got it today. I'd build that out of a 16 foot panel. Not yet. I'm just going to put it in case he don't leave it there. I'm just just a temporary and I know he ain't going to leave it there. If he builds in my house right there, he'll be in the house. I'm just trying to save some money.

[00:01:03] It's 5 o'clock. I'll call financial management door. Good luck. I got a motion to approve the agenda. Second. I got a second by Mr. Hillis. All those in favor of approving their agenda say aye. Aye. All those opposed. Passes unanimously. We'll move on to approval of the minutes from the last meeting. Motion to approve and dispense with reading. I got a motion to Ms. Ross. I hear a second. Second. Second.

[00:01:32] All those, any additions or corrections of the minutes being none. All those in favor of approving the minutes say aye. Aye. All those opposed. Passes unanimously. I'll turn it over to budget finance. All right. I will now call the meeting of budget finance committee to order and we have the same items. First is approval of the agenda. Motion. Motion from Commissioner Bolden to approve. Second. Second Commissioner Taylor.

[00:02:02] All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed. Motion carries. Now I'll entertain a motion to approve the minutes from the previous meeting. Motion to approve. Except the minutes said written and dispense of the reading. Motion from Commissioner Savage. Is there a second? Second. Second Commissioner Bolden. Any additions or corrections to the minutes? If not, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

[00:02:32] Motion carries. All right. We'll move on to item number three. Renew the school nutrition produce agreement. Turn this over to Mr. Swalas. Yes. So this is a commodities bid that we accepted last year and it's just extending it for one more year at the same terms that we accepted it last year.

[00:02:59] So no price increase which makes me want to say I'll make a motion when we approve. Second. Motion to second by Mr. Rootley. Anybody have any questions about the contract? Being none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Passes unanimously. We'll move on to item number four. Approved the feedback from Lawrence County School of Nutrition Commodities bid.

[00:03:24] So again commodities but this one's a little different because we're joining a commodity buying group which what a lot of school nutrition programs are doing across the state. There's more power in putting several counties together. You can get a better price and deal. And so this is a commodity buying group out of Lawrence County. I think it lists the counties that are there. There are several Chester County, Decatur, Murfreesboro City.

[00:03:53] And again these commodities are mostly your, you can see their peanut butter, turkey, cheese, beef, so on. So again this is simply asking the committee for permission to join this and I'll make a motion that we approve that. Got a motion Mr. Swalas. Do I hear a second? Second. Second. Second. Mr. Ross. Any questions about the piggyback bid? Being none. All those in favor of approving say aye. Aye.

[00:04:24] All those opposed. Passes unanimously. We move on to number five. Piggyback the ambulance bid for Warren County EMS. Justin you want to talk about that one? When we bid, this is actually our bid from last year. It's just under a year old. But when we bid it, we bid it for a one time purchase, not to leave it open for a significant amount of time.

[00:04:49] But the vendor has agreed like there's no inflation, no price increase to do another remount at the same rate. So we're essentially piggybacking our own bid or extending our bid into a second purchase. So I just, because the specs said we're going to buy one remount, I wanted to come back and say look we want to get it, you know, hey look we're going to do a second one off the same bid. Motion approved. Got a motion Mr. Rubley. Second by Mr. Swalas.

[00:05:18] Anybody have any questions about that? I will ask though, it says the 4500. I thought the thing had went away from the 4500 and back to the 3500 because of the ride and apparently not. No, I think that, well that's what they done last time. That's what we done last year. So you can't change the bid. Right. I just remember a few years ago that they did the 4500 and they, they wasn't. And then they said it was going to go back to the 3500.

[00:05:46] So I could see them though needing the 4500 just for the heavier grains and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. That might be what they're running into. I don't know that for a fact. I was just curious because they, they had talked about not doing the 4500 anymore so apparently they decided they did like it better. Or they found a reason they couldn't go back. Yeah. And that, that, these are remounts so the reason could be if it come off the 4500 or it has to be put back on a 4500.

[00:06:15] So that's probably happened even if they have went back to 3500. Okay. All right. Anybody else have any more questions? Being none, all those in favor of approving the piggyback bid say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Passes unanimously. Now I'll turn it over to Scott. Okay. Uh, this is item six, which is the radio amendment and this is for the ambulance service.

[00:06:41] Um, it's my understanding that they didn't have enough money to completely cover, uh, all of the radio system last year and we are reappropriating the money that they had in place last year. And this is going to total 35,000. So what this is, is reappropriating the 18,000 for them to complete the purchase this year. This is for digital? Yes. Motion. Motion for Commissioner Savage. Second. Second. Commissioner Bolden.

[00:07:11] Anyone want to speak to that motion? If not, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Executive Bill. All right. Financial management's got the same amendment that comes before us. Motion. We've got a motion by Mr. Swallows. So I got maybe Brad. Anybody got any questions? Being none, all those in favor of approving the amendment say aye. Aye. Aye.

[00:07:41] All those opposed? Passes unanimously. I'll turn it back over to Scott. Okay. This next item seven is, uh, to reestablish line item. This is a grant. I know if you look at the bottom it says Rescue Squad grant program, but this is actually for the ambulance service to, uh, to purchase different wares. You can see in the, in the footnotes, coats, pants, gloves, helmets. Uh, and this is a, uh, this is a grant.

[00:08:11] And we did receive the money up front. We got the money in May, but they did not have. No, yeah. They, we, we got the money last year and we had this budget amendment in last year, but they couldn't get their logistics worked out to actually be able to order the stuff before June 30th. So we just need to reappropriate. Motion from Commissioner Bolden. Second Commissioner Savage. Anyone want to speak to that motion? If not, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

[00:08:41] Motion carries. Executive Mayor Bell. All right. We have the same amendment in front of financial management. Is that a motion we approve? Is that a motion we second? Second. Got a motion to second. Any questions about the, uh, amendment? Being none, all those in favor of approving the amendment say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Passes unanimously. Moving back over to Mr. Ripley. Okay.

[00:09:09] This is item number eight and this is for the health department. I think most everybody will recall a few meetings back, one or two meetings back. They, that time. Well that was actually during the budget. It was. During the budget. Andrea had asked to increase the utilities because they were, uh, they were going to run a little bit more over tomorrow, but they, uh, neglected to increase the communication costs. And this is the estimate. Justin, did you help her with this? No. I made it. Okay.

[00:09:38] I came up with the estimate based on the two. We've gotten two meal, two bills so far this year. Um, I looked at the both bills to see what we're going to be. Cause there was some finicky business where they were moving out, moving in. So there was some credit to moving back, but, um, this is based on what I think they'll need in addition to the budget they already have to finish the year out. And this is $13,055. Yeah. Do I hear a motion? Motion.

[00:10:07] Motion from Commissioner Savage. Second. Second Commissioner Bolden. Does anyone want to speak to that motion? If not, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Executive Board. All right. We got the same, uh, amendment for the Health Department Communications in front of Financial Management. I hear a motion be approved. Motion.

[00:10:38] Mr. Hillis. Any questions? All those in favor of approving the amendment say aye. Aye. All those opposed. Passes unanimously. Do you have any more? I don't have any written up, but Jason reminded me that, uh, Building Grounds hasn't had a chance to meet, um, since this issue kind of started, but there's not a diesel line item currently in the buildings maintenance budget.

[00:11:07] Um, and we now have three generators that that budget is servicing. We went to health department one at this building and then the one that's at the fuel island. Um, so if Damon has to buy fuel for the generators to move it to them, we don't currently have an appropriate line item for him to pay for that out of. So we have to, you know, we either have to pay for it out of gas, which is, I mean, it's fuel, but it's the line item says gasoline.

[00:11:35] So, um, he's thinking he couldn't, he hadn't come up with an estimate on dollar amount, but he was wondering if we could put like three, $4,000 in diesel under 51800. So that'd be 51800 dash 412. If we could put fuel diesel there, the only thing it would be used for would be to buy, uh, you know, diesel for the generators at the three buildings. How many gallons do they hold? Uh, this one holds 200, I think.

[00:12:04] Nearly three. Nearly three. We're almost at a thousand gallon between the two. Yeah, I was gonna say the one out at the health department is like six or seven hundred. $4,000 just to fill them up one time. Oh yeah. And those things are running. And they've all got to run for one or two hours a month. Yeah, a month to make sure they're servicing. So far, you're gonna, you're gonna definitely put $4,000 and that's not gonna keep them full. So. Are they full now?

[00:12:32] Uh, no, they're not full now. How much do you want to put in? Do you think we need to put $5,000? I mean, what, yeah. We could do $5,000. I mean, it's general funding. We could do, we could do $5,000 and then if, you know, if something does come up, we, you know, we can always come back. Then they'll at least get us through, you know, January. It gets you through one down, maybe. Yeah. And we can come back if we need to add, but that, uh, Justin recommended to put that under $5,000, $5,800.

[00:13:01] Do you put some kind of additive in there to leave them? I mean, cause if it doesn't run through or? Well, I mean, we'll need to, but I mean, we've just put them in for now. That's what I'm wondering. Do you, you gotta keep them full cause you don't know when it's gonna happen. Yeah. But yet you gotta have some kind of additive in there. Yeah. That's, that's something we'll need to start putting out and dip in there. Joy, out there at Phillip Sales and Service says that, aren't you? He's got it.

[00:13:31] That's good. Yeah. Justin's recommendation is we place that under $5,800, 412. Uh, and in the amount of $5,000. Do I hear a motion to approve that? Motion. Commissioner Bolden? Second. Second. Second, Commissioner Ross. Does anyone want to speak for that motion?

[00:14:00] Not all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. I will throw this out there. Um, are we putting that in the fuel station? Not present. Treatment. Not present. I'd say that's, that's cycling through that pretty quick. I'd say it's cycling through pretty quick. Yeah, it's cycling through pretty quick. That's what I was curious about. But now we do need to start putting some in. In wintertime. In wintertime. And we will do that.

[00:14:30] All right. We've got the same amendment in front of financial management. Motion. We've got a motion. Mr. Taylor. You should point there. Second. You? She was pointing. What did you? I'll say it. All right. We've got a second from Scott. All those in favor of the amendment say aye. Aye. All those opposed. Passes unanimously. Any more amendments, Justin? No.

[00:15:00] All right. Does the schools have any surplus property? They don't have any? Very disappointing you, Mr. Paul. I don't know that we need to pass this through, but I'm going to say grant here, but we've tried to sell one of the old compactor bins for sanitation a couple of times. We sold it to somebody. They showed up, said it was more damaged than they thought. We tried to sell it again, didn't sell it.

[00:15:25] So I'm going to have Josh just, since we tried to establish that it has no actual value, we're going to send that to scrap. Why don't we send it up to the school system? I'm just happy you're not asking me to buy a new one. Well, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So do you need anything passed to that? No. I don't think so. I just want to let the committee know. Okay.

[00:15:55] All right. He's going on the other side. Yeah, he's going on the other side. All right. So we don't have any more surplus property. Anybody got any public comment? Read the committee. Read the committee. Congratulations. Congratulations to everybody here. Condolences. Did you say, oh, congratulations. I don't have any public comment? No comment? All right.

[00:16:22] We're down to discussion of anything else that needs to come for the committee. I think Justin's got a couple of those. I do. It's really, it's two things, but really it's one. It's the, earlier, I think back in April, we voted to extend our contract with, for the clinic. Since then we've been in discussion during budget season. We were talking about adding some part-time help.

[00:16:48] So what I've brought here, 12A is an amendment to the contract that we have that will add to part-time people three days a week. But it would also extend the contract out an additional year. So when we wrote the RFP, we had a three-year deal with two one-year options. We've done our three-year deal. We took in a one-year option and this will be us taking the second-year option. So that way it smooths that transition out for the employees who will be hired at the clinic.

[00:17:19] I'll make a motion we approve this contract. I'll second that. So anybody have any questions about the contract? All right. If nobody has any questions, all those in favor of approving the contract, say aye. Aye. All those opposed, pass it unanimously. Is that all you've got, Justin? That's it. That's it. All right. I have one more thing. It's going to really get controversial. But I tried to do this eight years ago and it didn't go nowhere.

[00:17:50] I couldn't get no support to get it done. But in 35 years, everybody that works in Warren County government has got a raise. They've all, all employees except one set of employees. That's the county commissioners. They've never got a raise in 35 years. It's been that long since anything's been done. Putnam County passed a resolution. Given their county commissioners, their pay is set based on what the county executive makes.

[00:18:22] And it's 1 24th. It would be 1 24th of what the county executive makes. And I know it'd be controversial for every commissioner here because the only way this can happen is you actually have to vote on it before September 1. That's the only way it could happen. You can't after September the 1, commissioners can't change their pay. Can't change your own pay. This will be set in the pay for the new county commissioners. And so I wanted to bring it up in front of everybody.

[00:18:51] And right now, Franklin County's commissioner pay is $500 a month. They're comparable with our size. And so. And 1 24th of the county executive pay is $416.67 a month. Which that's a $156 increase from what we have now. Yeah. Yeah. But that will eliminate.

[00:19:21] Ever having to address it again. So after the initial raise, it would really only break down to $4.48 per month yearly. Well, it would be. It would be. My salary is not based on y'all have no control over that the state. So and some.

[00:19:49] I think I've got a raise every year, but yeah, some years the. It's the. The elected officials do not get. Yeah. The elected official salaries are based on the statewide state raise. Right. Except they're capped at 5%. So I bring that up because a few years ago the state gave a. Their average is a full salary assessment. They gave 12 14% raises across the board. Like that was their average. But the county only had to go five. So you're only looking at a max of.

[00:20:19] You're really looking at somewhere between two and 5% per year. Right. I'm not. I'm not being negative. I'm just saying. Yeah. It's broke down. I mean, you're talking about 53, 71 a year. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's. After the initial. Right. After the initial. The way it's trending. And right now our county commissioners are making. Y'all are making $40 less than their school board members are. That's what I was wondering what that was. Currently. Currently. Currently.

[00:20:48] That's what I'm saying. Currently. That means they're getting the right. So. Which. Is that financial management or a budget and finance issue? It can work either way. I think financial management issue. If financial management goes on it. That's it. Right. Well, we put the resolution. That would. Put the resolution. It'll put it on the docket. And each commissioner. I know there's going to be a public outcry out there.

[00:21:17] That probably is expected. But those are. Those. Saying people that are going to outcry about that guarantee. They're not working for the same thing they did 35 years ago. I'll make a motion. You got a motion. Mr. Swallows. I'll second that motion. Is there any discussion? Could I say something? Yeah. I'm not in that committee, but. It costs money to be a commissioner. Sometimes we take off to be at a meeting when we can.

[00:21:45] And everybody here pretty well. So. And it costs money. Just to be a commissioner. And a former commissioner in my district. Told me this. Before I was elected. However. I knew what the pay was. And I knew that it would not. Compensate. You know. For the time you have to take off and stuff. I don't. I just don't think. Right now. I can support it.

[00:22:15] Because I. I live in an area where a lot of people are really having a hard time. And I just. I just. Can't do it. But by that same token. Don't you think that you should at least be compensated for the gas? Well I know we know what we sign up for. It would be nice not to completely lose money. Because some people are. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not.

[00:22:45] The time. It's a lot of time. Sure. Yeah. Well. And it boils down to. I don't think anybody's really in this room probably comfortable with voting their self a race. But. The back remains. It's been 35 years. And if we don't do it. It'll never be done. Well I think if you also have to think about your vote on. County commissioners are going to be here 10, 15 years from now too. Right.

[00:23:14] You're not voting for it. I mean it benefits you. But you're voting on. You want also to encourage the future of this district to run. To actually somebody to run. County commissioners. So ultimately it does. It is self-serving to you. But at the same time you are a steward of the position and a steward of the county. And you need to make it attractive to be a part of the county government. I'm not saying it's going to make you rich. No.

[00:23:43] But it's going to be a steward of the position. I think it's just. I think that's why nothing's been done so long. It's because it's a struggle for people to feel like they've given themselves a race. I know. Everybody hates to do this job before. You've been here before. You didn't want to do it yourself. You hate to do it. But at some point. At what point are we going to keep on until it gets to the point that they're losing money to come and actually be a county commissioner? Well I have people all the time tell me out in the county they're like. There's no way in the world I would go through.

[00:24:12] They don't even think about the time or even the fuel. They just look at the head. Sometimes the headache and the things we go through by doing this. They're like what they ain't no way. And they don't understand what's being put on you. Each one of these elected commissioners. And it's going to come to that point because I'm going to set it up. I was waiting to see if I got elected. But you're required to get eight hours annual training per year. We've got a lot of commissioners that are not getting that. And they're not going to get paid to actually come and do that training.

[00:24:43] And you're going to have to get it because they're beginning to put in on our audience. The people that don't have their hours in. So that'll just be more hours that you're going to start putting in. That you're not going to get to compensate for. That's exactly where we're at. You realize in 1991 $260 a month. A lot of money. The minimum wage in 1991 was $380. $380.

[00:25:11] And I understand what Tommy's saying. But how many people would furnish their own phone and their own vehicle and their time for $260 a month? If the race draws more people's interest, they would have some, what, seven races opposed to this thing? I didn't keep up with it, but I'd say it's probably about right. Out of 12, you know.

[00:25:39] But anyway, I'm not on this committee either, but I would support it. Terry, you told me several years ago, never say never. But in my defense, it was before you told me that. I had the opportunity to second your motion in that meeting that night. And I was confident that somebody would. I didn't have as much time invested in it back then, but I said I'll never vote for myself paying credits.

[00:26:08] But I do hate to sit on everybody else's. And I know if anybody thinks we're making money, they need to come follow us around a month or so and see how much. And I hate to stand in the way of everybody else getting theirs. And like I say, that's not enough. So I'm going to vote to support this tonight and get it to the full commission. And I'll let my conscience be my guide between that and then. Well, and that's what I'm asking. You can bring it up.

[00:26:34] And if the commissioners can't support it, but you do need to think about the future of Warren County. At some point, it will have to be as somebody will have to step up and take the brunt of the public. I know how they're going to act, but we're here to do the right thing. Well, honestly, I think based on the 124th of the county executive's pay, since there's 24 permissions, you do it 124th. I think that's the fairest way.

[00:26:59] And then that little, that small raise that they get every year will make it to where it never has to be addressed again. Yeah. Well, we're elected to make those decisions. No. Yeah. And this is tough. Yes, it is. It's hard. My first impression is you just naturally don't want to vote yourself a raise.

[00:27:25] But then I'm second thoughts. If we don't do it, it'll never be done. Well, I've talked to Terry about this and I don't want to get a pay up there to the point that it's incentivizing people to run just for the pay. And I know this is not going to do it, but we do need incentive for good candidates to run in the future.

[00:27:51] I'm not saying we don't have them now, but there's going to come a point in place because Justin can tell you his responsibilities have almost doubled since I've been here. And I mean, it's just something all the time. There's more and more and more and more. And it's going to get to the point, I'm afraid, that we don't have people throwing their hat in the ring or good people anyway. And we need to keep good people in here running the county for sure. Well, as the county grows, we're dealing with more issues. All the time.

[00:28:19] You could always walk sometime down the road. It does. That's the director's advice. We could cap it. I mean, you can always do that at some point in time. And then if it gets out of control another 35 years down the road, they can uncap it or whatever. And I know the public's probably not aware, but I'm on committees. Terry's a salary guy, but several of us are on committees that don't pay anything. Brad, you've been on multiple committees that pay nothing.

[00:28:50] And some of those may be less than $2 and $3. Yeah. Those are the good ones. The free ones are the good ones. I would ask that if this passes, we put some sort of rounding language in there. Because once it's passed, I'm then obligated to administer that. So if it says you've got to make $1.24 of his salary across the full year, then it's better if it's all we go ahead and set it to round it off to an even dollar. Like a $4.15 or something instead of a $4.15.

[00:29:20] So if it comes out of $51, it would go to the next dollar. So if it comes out of $33.3, it would go. Yeah. Up or down. I would just say rounding. I would make a motion to add the rounding to the nearest dollar. Up or down. Or up or down. Either way. Just rounding based on the rules. Closest. Yeah. 49 goes down. 50 goes up. 50 goes up. I got a second. All those in favor of the amendment, say aye. Aye.

[00:30:10] All those opposed. I said you're not. I'm going to support it tonight to send it to the full court and see what kind of good discussion we have that night. Well, I think it's something that if this don't work, the county will eventually have to address it.

[00:30:37] It's a tough one of those tough things you hate to handle and I know the way social media is, it'd probably get way out of control. But that's what happens. But we're doing it in meetings. That's what we're doing. So, anybody else have anything that needs to come before the committee? Make a motion and we adjourn. I got a motion. Got a second. Brad, all those in favor say aye. I want to vote. Good sir.

[00:31:06] Budget finance committee. I'll take a motion. Motion from Mr. Taylor. Mr. Tavitz on favor say aye. Aye. We stand in. We're not going to vote. We didn't specify which you were choosing.