Beech Tree News Network

The Butler County Fiscal Court met in special session on Monday evening, December 29th. Missing from the meeting was 5th District Magistrate Keith Daugherty.

First on the agenda was the passage of a resolution giving County Judge Executive David Fields the authority to sign an agreement with the Barren River Area Development District (BRADD) concerning the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act. On behalf of BRADD, Sharon Woods spoke briefly to the Court concerning the resolution. She said that the new agreement is needed because of changes in the act that require renewals from participating counties. BRADD Director Rodney Kirtley was also at the meeting.

Following a motion to make the resolution by 1st District Magistrate Stevie Givens, and a second by 3rd District Magistrate Chad Tyree the motion passed by a 4-0 vote.

Sheriff Scottie Ward presented his budget for 2015 to the Court in the next item of business. For the next 45-minutes the Court debated the Sheriff’s new budget, with much of the discussion taking place between the Sheriff and 4th District Magistrate David Whittinghill

Sheriff Ward presented two budgets to the Court approximately 2 weeks ago in order to give the magistrates a chance to review the documents. One budget featured a 2% across the board increase, and the other asked that the Sheriff’s Office not be required to pay the County the cost of benefits for the County’s two School Resource Officers (SRO).

Ward explained that one of his SROs, Deputy Travis McIntosh, works full time and attends school extracurricular activities. Ward said that Deputy McIntosh is only paid for 40-hours per week, and that his time earned during after-hours activities such as sporting events is paid at time plus one-half in comp time. Ward said that in the summer when school is out of session that McIntosh draws his comp time, and that the Sheriff’s Office pays that time out of their general budget because funding from the school district has stopped at that point. The other SRO, Jamon Childress, works part time.

Ward wants to stop paying the officer’s benefits, and keep that funding to help pay the deputy’s salary when school isn’t in session. In 2014 through November the Sheriff’s Office has paid $10,432 to the County to cover the officer’s benefits.
Third District Magistrate Chad Tyree asked the Sheriff if it might be possible to make a hybrid of the two budgets presented to come up with a working budget for 2015. Tyree said that his interest was in funding the Sheriff’s Office properly, without raising the County budget.

Ward explained that he was willing to do whatever it took to arrive at a budget, and pointed out that some expenditures made in his first term wouldn’t be necessary in his next term. Specifically he stated that he had to purchase multiple police cruisers soon after taking office. According to Ward his fleet of cars is up to date, and that he will only need to get a one new car in the near future, and that the old car will be used to replace a high-mileage car currently in use.

Whittinghill then told Ward that in his first term as sheriff that tax collections had only increased by around $14,000, but that the Fiscal Court had continued to increase the budget for the Sheriff’s Office. Ward countered that his department returned more excess fees to the Fiscal Court than his predecessor, Joe Gaddie.
Magistrate Whittinghill challenged Ward about returning more excess fees, saying, “I’d argue that.” Ward answered Whittinghill stating that when Sheriff Gaddie left office he only left $14.00 in the drug-fund account, and added, “I try to make it the best I can on what I have.”

Whittinghill then charged that Ward gave $2-per hour raises to some of his employees during 2014, even though he only asked for a 2% raise for employees from the Fiscal Court. Ward answered that he did give the raises, but he thought the first dollar of the raise was given in December of 2013. The sheriff explained that he tried to keep his employees’ pay at roughly the same level as sheriff’s deputies in surrounding counties. He said that the average wages of deputies in surrounding counties which are on the same fee structure as Butler County was $16.59 per hour. His figures show that his four deputies and two SROs made an average hourly wage of $15.66.  NOTE: Edmonson County’s highest paid deputy makes $15.14 per hour, but Edmonson County wages were not included in the average because the Edmonson County Fiscal Court operates on a fee-pooling system.

The verbal sparring between Ward and Whittinghill continued to deal with the wages and raises for employees of the Sheriff’s Office. Whittinghill told the Court that one deputy, Heath West, had received a total of $6.40 in raises in the last four years. Ward said that Whittinghill’s figures were correct, but that much of the increase was due to West being promoted to Chief Deputy. “That’s the way it works, David, when you take on more responsibilities you get paid more money,” said Ward.

Whittinghill countered the Sheriff by saying that the frequency and amount of the raises given to the Sheriff’s office takes away from other county employees. Chad Tyree said that the employee raises were what made him consider a hybrid budget, and pointed out to the Court that employees in the Sheriff’s office had been given a total of 43% in raises in Ward’s first four years as Sheriff.

Although admitting his office had received a large raise, Ward explained that he has to pay a competitive wage, or risk losing deputies to other surrounding departments. He said with newly elected sheriff’s in Ohio and Grayson Counties that several new deputies will be hired, and that the only way he can keep from having his deputies hired away is to pay competitive wages.

The Sheriff then the Court that he had thought they might take issue with his two budget proposals, and had planned for it. The Sheriff then presented a third budget, identical to his budget for 2014. He explained that he had made various cuts to make the budget work, including cuts in fuel, equipment, overtime and car payments. He said he also hoped to see increased revenue in 2015 from the drug-fund, concealed-carry permits, tax bills, and from Housing Authority.
He then told the Court that because of the decreased State Police presence in Butler County his department does most of the policing in the county.

Referring to the car payments, Whittinghill charged that Ward had already bought a police car and told the Court that his drug-fund monies would pay for the car. The magistrate stated that there shouldn’t be a car payment if that were the case. Ward countered that drug-fund monies paid for an SUV used by his department, and that budget funds were approved by the Court to purchase a police package pickup.

In response, Ward told Whittinghill, “If you want to buy us a horse, David, we’ll ride it if you will feed it. It just might take us four hours to get to your house when you call us.” Ward then told Whittinghill that there are two things a policeman has to have to be effective, a car and a gun, and without either they can’t do their jobs.
Whittinghill then moved to accept Ward’s third budget proposal of $552,492.83 with the stipulation that it carry a line-item amendment clause. That means that should expenditures exceed their budgeted amount by line, that the budget must be amended by the Fiscal Court. Ward told Whittinghill that his budget is bound by that clause under Kentucky Revised Statutes, and that he has had to amend his budget in the past in that manner.

After limited discussion the motion was seconded by Chad Tyree and passed by a 4-0 vote.

The Court moved to the next item of business, an amendment to Clerk Shirley Givens’ 2014 budget. The amendment was necessary to reflect the receipt of grant funds by the Clerk’s office. The measure passed 4-0.

Next the Court discussed the project to convert a storage building at the County Barn to a recycling center. David Whittinghill and Judge Executive Fields told the Court that the building in question was steel frame with metal sides. Although the metal siding needs to be replaced, the building itself is in good condition. Fields explained that the County has $23,000 in in-kind matching funds from the grant that paid for recycling trailers that could be used for the project, and that it would only have to provide labor and materials which could be covered by the in-kind funds. The Court approved converting the building to a recycling center by a 4-0 vote.

In a related matter Timmy West told the Court that he had talked to Tracy Hack from Star-Tek Recycling about the recycling center. He said Hack had a bailer, loading ramps, and a forklift he was willing to sell to the County at cost to help with the center. No action was taken on West’s report.

Magistrate Tyree told the Court that he had been approached about bringing up a “Right to Work” ordinance in open court. “Right to Work” ordinances passed by Warren, Simpson, and Fulton counties in recent weeks have drawn national media attention. The ordinances state that an individual does not have to join a union in order to be employed in workplaces that are union shops.

Judge Fields said that the matter would need to be referred to County Attorney Dick Deye, and invited Tyree to put the item on the agenda for a called meeting on January 5th. That session is required by Kentucky Revised Statutes to rehire all current county employees.

Some discussion was had of the year in review. Judge Fields stated that the year had presented some challenges to the Court, but on the whole had been good. He praised the Road Department for finishing the McKendree Chapel Road project, and said he hopes the Court can examine and update some ordinances in the coming year.

With nothing more on the agenda the meeting was then adjourned.

Story by Joe K. Morris, Beech Tree News