Continued growth prompted Jackson County Manager Jay Denton to include a full-time planner in his proposed 2001-2002 budget.

The $34.6 million spending includes $80,000 for the hiring of a non-elected county manager and an additional $256,000 for county salaries as Jackson implements a salary survey it recently commissioned.

“Due to the impact of population and development, I am strongly recommending the recruitment and employment of a professional planner,” Denton wrote in his budget message.

Jackson County is currently holding public meetings to gather public input on how the county should grow. Denton said the planner would help the county implement the goals that come from those meetings. In another growth-related expenditure, the budget calls for the addition of a part-time employee in the building inspections department to help expedite the permitting process.

If the budget is approved, property owners won’t have a tax increase. The rate of 48 cents per $100 of valuation will remain the same.

Commissioners met with department heads during the budget meeting to discuss the new salary and position study. In the first year of the plan, there is a 2.5 percent pay raise for all employees. Some may get higher raises if they went up a job grade.

“One of this board’s priorities was to implement this salary schedule,” said Commissioner Stacy Buchanan. “Now we can get on a schedule and stick with it.”

Buchanan said there will likely be some who are unhappy with the schedule, but in its first year of implementation the county had to deal both with individual situations and the whole group of county employees. There was no way to please everybody, he said.

The $80,000 to employ a professional county manager comes as commissioners adhere to the results of a non-binding November referendum.

As for the state reimbursables that are playing a major role in budget writing throughout the state, that money has been taken out of the operating budget and will be used on the new jail if it comes through.
In other budget matters:

° Medicaid costs increased $300,000.

° The schools were allocated a 7-percent budget increase of $303,265 to bring total local operating expenses to $4.64 million. The school board had sought a 20-percent hike to $5.21 million.

° Southwestern Community College also received a 7-percent increase to $754,000.

° Creation of a capital reserve fund of $152,603. Denton is proposing that 1/2 cent of the ad valorem tax revenue go into this fund each year to prevent the county from having to go into its contingency fund every time something unexpected comes up.

 

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