Beech Tree News Network

The Butler County Fiscal Court met in regular session on Monday night, February 8th. All members and several visitors were at the meeting.

After approval of minutes from prior meetings, the Court heard from County Court Clerk Sherry Johnson. First, she presented a check for $194,709.02, which represented the excess fees collected by the Clerk's office in 2015. Johnson also received approval for an amendment to her 2016 budget to set the Clerk's salary at $79,386.44. The Clerk's salary is set by the state, but is not available when the Clerk's budget is submitted for approval. The Court approved the amendment by a 5-0 vote.

Sheriff Scottie Ward followed Johnson to the podium to address the Court. Ward asked for a budget amendment to set his salary at $83,355.76 for 2016. Like Johnson's salary, the Sheriff's salary is determined by the state. The amendment passed 5-0.

Next, the Court voted 5-0 to authorize new Solid Waste Coordinator/Recycling Center Director Corey Raymer to enforce the County's 5-year solid waste plan.

Jailer Terry Fugate spoke to the Court about two items relating to the jail's Policy & Procedures Manual. Fugate said the Court needed to approve a Memorandum of Understanding with Hope Harbor to offer counseling to victims of sexual abuse housed at the Butler County Jail. The service is provided for free, and is mandated by the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). The Court approved the Memorandum by a 5-0 vote, then voted 5-0 to accept the jail's Policy & Procedures Manual for 2016.

Road Supervisor Jonathan Deweese told the Court that declining oil prices have lowered the cost of blacktop. That means the County has $9,500 left in 2015-16 Flex Road funds. Deweese asked the magistrates which district they would authorize to receive the monies. It was decided that the money would go to the Second District, and Magistrate Johnny Tuck will decide on a specific road and tell the Court at the next Fiscal Court meeting.

Next, the Court approved a resolution in support of the Barren River Area Development District's (BRADD) Community Aging Agreement. The resolution authorizes a $1,700 contribution to the fund. The motion passed 5-0.

The magistrates then approved a transfer $19,369.60 from the general fund to the road fund to reflect a FEMA reimbursement in that amount. The money from FEMA was from the late season snowstorms in 2015.

The Court then entered into a lengthy discussion of 9-1-1 funding options for the county.

Last summer the Butler County Ambulance Board asked the County to pay for its dispatch services as a way to correct a shortfall in funding. No action has been taken as of yet by the county.

On Monday the Ambulance Board again told the Court that the loss of revenue caused by the reduced numbers of landline phones is causing budget shortfalls for the ambulance service. Dispatch currently costs $286,617 per year and the Board reported that it currently has about a $123,000 per year shortfall.

County Attorney Dick Deye explained that the County instituted a $1 per month fee on landlines to help offset the cost of 9-1-1 service when the service was established in 1994. The County raised the fee to $2 in 2003. Now the Ambulance Board suggests the fee be raised to $4 per landline phone per month.

Deye and Judge Fields told the Court that Campbell and Kenton Counties have passed annual fees based on property and home ownership. They said other counties have added fees to water bills to help pay for 9-1-1 service.

Mark Hood and Don Sullivan explained that the funds from landline phones continues to drop about $4,000 dollars per year. Cell phone revenue is currently at about $100,000 per year for 9-1-1 services in the county, and that number has effectively topped out because most consumers already have cell phones.

Judge Fields said there is a chance the State Legislature could change the regulations concerning cell phone 9-1-1 surcharges to put them more in line with landline fees. Dick Deye said in his conversations with the state 9-1-1 Board that they had indicated they recommend raising the land line surcharge to $4 per line.

Magistrate David Whittinghill asked if mandatory fire department dues could be added to property taxes. The dues could be made mandatory, but Judge Fields explained it would then fall to the individual departments to pay funds to the the Ambulance Service and dispatch.

Some talk was had about adding a fee to each property tax bill. Sheriff Ward suggested if property were taxed it should be vehicles instead of real property in order to include the most tax-payers.

Magistrate Stevie Givens suggested no action be taken and the issue be further discussed at the Court's next regular session. Magistrate David Whittinghill asked for a work session be scheduled before the next meeting, and the Court agreed to meet at 4 p.m. on Monday, February 22nd.

Don Sullivan closed the discussion saying, "Please do something."

In another item relating to public protection, the Court approved the annual allotments for each of the County's five volunteer fire departments. Each department will receive $10,000 in funding.

Story and photo by Joe K. Morris, Beech Tree News