Washington County Committee Hears Budget Requests

FAYETTEVILLE — Washington County justices of the peace Thursday quickly approved tentative funding to pay for services to help local veterans, troubled youth at the county’s Juvenile Detention Center, rural planning and environmental affairs in 2014.

Washington County Judge Marilyn Edwards supervises county departments that provide those services. The Quorum Court’s Finance and Budget Committee also reviewed another 15 budget requests under Edwards’ supervision.

Justices approved most of Edwards’ budget requests within minutes of hearing from departmental supervisors. The full Quorum Court will give final approval later this year.

The committee tabled budget requests for the county’s animal shelter and the department that provides computer and technology support. The committee spent the most time debating a $100,000 cut from Edwards’ Buildings and Grounds Department.

The $100,000 cut came from a $500,000 request for parts and repairs mainly used to fix unforeseen broken equipment, such as air conditioning units. Justices reduced that same line item by $500,000 from $1 million during hearings for the 2013 budget last year.

Justice of the Peace Eva Madison proposed the $100,000 cut after asking Ron Wood, building maintenance supervisor, if he could work with that reduced amount.

“Two weeks ago, we had about $134,000 worth of HVAC units that we had to replace in about three days’ time,” Wood said. “We just deal with so many broken things, it’s hard to say.”

The county spent $89,887 in 2011 and $119,075 in 2012 for parts and repairs, according to budget documents. The county spent $49,595 from January through June this year. Wood said he’s spent about $209,000 in addition since June.

Wood’s overall budget request of $2.3 million for 2014 dropped by $480,397 mostly because a $480,000 construction in progress will not carryover next year, according to documents.

“I know that many aspects of your job are unknown whereas others in the county don’t have that,” Madison told Wood. “To me this is about trying to find ways to make our budget more realistic in terms of what we’re actually spending.”

Madison said budgets with plentiful amounts beyond historical spending could affect the psychology behind spending choices. She also complimented Wood’s performance in maintaining more than 30 county buildings.

Opponents to the $100,000 cut said the money provides a cushion for emergency spending.

“We’ve got old buildings,” said Justice of the Peace Ann Harbison. “I know it’s a cushion. It’s there in case you need it. He does a good job taking care of the county buildings. It has to do with trust. I think what we’re saying is we really don’t trust. We need to trust these people handling the county money and doing an excellent job doing it.”

John Adams, information technology director, requested a $1.6 million budget, almost double from this year’s $866,661 budget. The increase includes a request for four more staff costing $236,426.

The budget increase would pay for projects including faxes that go directly to an employee’s desktop computer, upgrades allowing for audio to be recorded with video surveillance at the juvenile detention center and security and better protection from email and Internet attacks to county computers.

Justices requested more information from Adams including the specific cost to each of the nine projects he listed in a memo to the committee.

The committee also tabled the animal shelter’s budget after Angela Ledgerwood, shelter director, submitted a revised budget request at the meeting. Justices, who received all budget requests from Edwards last week, said they needed time to review Ledgerwood’s changes.