The total county budget is at $6.3 million, with $3.8 million in the General Fund, $1.3 million in the Road Fund, $636,013 in the Trigg County Sheriff’s Department Fund, $471,808 in the Jail Fund and $50,000 in the Local Government Economic Assistance (LGEA) Fund.
Trigg County Judge Executive Stan Humphries said there haven’t been any changes to the budget since the court looked at it last month, and added that the court also already looked at parts of the budget, including the LGEA Fund, Jail Fund and the Sheriff’s Department Fund.
“Everything appears to be in order,” Humphries said.
Trigg County Treasurer Lucy Oliver said the county has budgeted for $100,000 in revenues from the sale of alcohol in the budget, although she expects that will be a conservative estimate.
After a question on the matter from Magistrate Rick Nelson, Humphries said that while those revenues generally go to the Sheriff’s Department, they can be used in other areas, including 9-1-1 Dispatch.
Oliver said they haven’t gotten official numbers for how much their insurance is going to be, since a previous bid process resulted in prices that were too high, and she added that they will hopefully have final numbers “in the near future.”
When the court last looked at the budget in May, Humphries said is 6.75 percent larger than the budget for the current fiscal year, and also said that among other things, it includes a 2.5 percent increase for county employees’ salaries and a $20,000 supplement for the Cadiz/Trigg County Tourism Commission.
And although no action was ultimately taken, the court again looked at the issue of giving permanent addresses to residents living in recreational vehicles. Trigg County Attorney Randy Braboy suggested only minor additions to the current 9-1-1 ordinance,
Those changes would entail including recreational vehicles in the list of structures that can get permanent addresses, and requiring either a wired telephone number, also known as a landline, or electricity or running water. Braboy said the original ordinances, passed in 1995 and 1997, required the landline but not electricity or running water, since in the time before cellphones, a landline indicated a permanent address.
Interim 9-1-1 Director Stephanie Sauppe said that previously, there was an unwritten rule not to give permanent addresses to people living in RVs because the county was worried about mail fraud. She also stated that more than 70 percent of the calls they not get come from cell phones.
Magistrate Jon Goodwin said Braboy was “on the right track” with those changes, and he thinks those new requirements would ease concerns about mail fraud.
Nelson, who heads the county’s emergency services committee, has suggested that any ordinance should require a site evaluation, a rough sketch of where the building will be, a driveway, a statement from the Trigg County Health Department on sewer compliance, inspection and approval of used RVs, trailers and mobile homes and address numbers at least 5 inches tall.
“I think those might be fantastic recommendations for some purpose, but I don’t believe they belong in the 9-1-1 ordinance,” Braboy said. He also noted that the current ordinance only requires 3-inch address numbers, and said the standards for RVs and other similar vehicles shouldn’t be stricter than the standards for buildings.
Nelson said that while safety should be the court’s foremost concern, he and Planning Commission Chairman Bob Brame are concerned with the “proliferation” of RVs in areas where perhaps the current residents might not want them.
“The law’s already on the books. It’s just another check out there, so that an RV doesn’t move in somewhere and skirt the law,” said Nelson, who added that the requirements would apply to all addresses.
However, Braboy was concerned that Nelson’s suggestion might add building inspection to the list of duties carried at by the 9-1-1 Director.
Humphries said the court will likely have a first reading on an amended ordinance at its next meeting, at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 27, at the courthouse basement.
Broadbent said that the Trigg County Recreation Complex Board will look at choosing a new chairman when they meet at 7 p.m. next Monday at the Recreation Complex Convention Center. Then-Chairman Ralph Thomas announced his resignation at their May meeting.
The fiscal court also approved bids for rock, fuel and asphalt. For rock, the court unanimously chose Rogers Group of Hopkinsville over Martin Marietta Materials of Paducah, whose delivery rates were more expensive.
For fuel, the court chose Key Oil over Max Arnold and Sons by a vote of 5 – 1, with Lawrence voting no. Magistrate Donnie Tyler was absent. Key Oil bid $3.20 a gallon for gas, $3.43 a gallon for on-road diesel and $3.22 a gallon for off-road diesel, while Max Arnold bid $3.25 for gas, $3.44 for on-road diesel and $3.21 for off-road diesel.
Marathon submitted the only bid for asphalt, bidding $2.08 a gallon for RS-2 asphalt and $2.5 a gallon for AE-200 asphalt, and the court unanimously approved it.
In other business, the court reappointed Oliver to another four-year term as the county’s treasurer, and reappointed Pam Metts and Susan Holmes to three-year terms on the county’s Cemetery Committee.
The court also unanimously approved monthly bills. Notable bills include $1,091 to Harp Enterprises for election services, $3,387 to Carr’s Heavy Equipment for repair work, $1,149 to Cadiz Auto Parts for two chainsaws, $4,809 to Siegel’s Uniforms for Trigg County Sheriff’s Department uniforms, an annual $4,686 subscription fee to One Call Now and $5,000 to Codell Construction and $10,857 for their work on the justice center parking lot. Humphries said those last two bills will be reimbursed.
The fiscal court will meet only once in July, at 6 p.m. on Monday, July 18, at the courthouse basement.
With the discussions of the budget, RV addresses and an executive session, the meeting lasted for almost two and a half hours – much longer than average for the fiscal court.
