Beech Tree News Network

The Butler County Fiscal Court met in regular session on Monday night, March 28th. A short agenda awaited members of the Court, and a small number of visitors were present at the meeting.

The meeting opened with several items of routine business.

County Judge-Executive David Fields announced the appointment of Scott Flener to the Board of Assessment. Flener will replace Aimee Henderson whose term has expired. Appoints to the board are made on a rotating basis, and this seat was due to be filled by the County Judge-Executive. Next year's vacancy will be appointed by the Fiscal Court. No action was needed on the appointment.

A procedural amendment to Butler County Sheriff Scottie Ward's budget was approved unanimously by the Court. The amendment is needed yearly to reflect the sheriff's salary as set by the state government.

Emergency Management Director Richard Henderson gave his budget proposal to the Court and gave an activity report. Henderson told the Court since this is his first year as EMD he doesn't have a previous budget to compare with, but his budget is in line with other counties of similar size. He must have his budget approved no submitted to the state by July 1st.

He reported that Emergency Management has been called out for two incidents since January 1st, and was on stand by three other times in that period. He said that the Butler County Rescue Squad has responded to 48 calls so far this year, and that the Emergency Operations Center was activated for the severe winter storm in January.

CLICK HERE TO SEE EMD REPORT:Report to fiscal court 03-28-16.pdf

Butler County Jailer Terry Fugate presented his 2016-17 budget to the Court. Prepared with County Treasurer Susan Johnson the budget comes in approximately $1,600-1,700 less than its 2015-16 budget. The Court's contribution to the budget will be $7,996 less than in the previous fiscal year.

Third District Magistrate Chad Tyree asked if any lump sum payments were due for the jail. He was told that only workman's comp and health insurance were still due. That led to a short discussion about the potential county insurance premiums for the next fiscal year. Judge Fields and First District Magistrate Stevie Givens reported that premiums will go up for the next fiscal year. The increase will be approximately 5.5%.

After approving bills and transfers two items were added to the agenda; discussion of criteria and procedures for adding roads to the county system, and discussion of adding fire dues to county tax bills.

County Attorney Dick Deye told the Court that he had sent the new ordinance outlining procedures and criteria for adding roads to the county system to Magistrate Chad Tyree, but the document had not as yet been distributed to the Court as a whole. The new ordinance will include petitions for landowners, and questionnaires that will help the Court and viewing committee decide if adding a road serves the public interest. The proposed ordinance also defines three types of roads; low use gravel, high use gravel, and paved. Guidelines are also I. The ordinance for the minimum construction and right-of-way requirements for each road type. It was again made clear that roads will be maintained at the level at which they are added to the system.

Asked by Beechtree News/WLBQ if the ordinance defined how a road served the public interest the County Attorney answered no. Deye explained that he had talked with Brian Halloran with the Department of Local government, and there are no guidelines put forth by the state.

Deye and Magistrate Chad Tyree told the Court that economic benefits, the number of people served, and other considerations would determine if adding a road served the public interest.

Steve Arnold asked Magistrate Tyree if an unclear section of the existing ordinance--section 6--would be reworked. He went on to state to the Court that arbitrary decisions on adding roads could negatively impact the county, and would hamper development and potential economic growth.

Landowner Kenneth Young, who lives on one of the roads at the center of the road addition controversy--Eric Young Road--addressed the Court, specifically Magistrate Tyree. Young took issue with Tyree's answer to BTN/WLBQ's question regarding what defined the public interest. Young charged that Tyree's answer came down to who a road served as being the chief criteria. Tyree disputed Young's assertion, and told Young and Arnold that the process was designed to be completely transparent.

After the meeting adjourned Young stated that the process of adding roads is like jumping through hoops, with more hoops being constantly added.

No action was taken on the new ordinance, and it will be presented to the Court for consideration at the next meeting.
A proposed ordinance to add fire dues to tax bills was presented to the Court. A short discussion on the ordinance was held. The ordinance is based on a similar ordinance from Edmonson County, but ordinances from Warren and Grant Counties were also examined during the course of writing the document, according to Dick Deye. The ordinance would place an additional fee of $25 onto tax bills, and would apply to no more than 2 deeds per property owner per district, up to a maximum of ten deeds in the county.

The ordinance does have provisions which would allow a land owner to opt out of paying the dues. Residents of Morgantown would be exempt from the dues because city residents pay a 12% fire tax. The ordinance would also mandate that each individual department would set aside 5% of their dues for grant matching, etc.

County Attorney Deye has misgivings about requiring departments to set aside part of the funds. Deye said it's an attempt to manage the money "through the back door, instead of the front door," to quote the County Attorney.

The ordinance will be considered at the next regular session of the Court on April 11th. That will give magistrates time to read the ordinance, and will give House Bill 185 time to be considered by the General Assembly in Frankfort. HB185 would add a fee to prepaid cell phones which could potentially generate 8-10-million dollars to fund 911 services across the state. A budgetary shortfall with Butler County 911 dispatch is what has led to consideration of mandatory fire dues.

Story by Joe K. Morris, Beech Tree News