Fiscal court begins to tackle the $11 million budget

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    Pendleton County local government budget runs with the fiscal year of July 1 to June 30. As the 2020-21 budget is entering its final two months of covering the costs of running Pendleton County, the Pendleton County Fiscal Court has begun the steps to adopt the 2021-22 budget that will begin on July 1, 2021.
    The budget which must balance is for $11,425,370 in both revenue and appropriations. That represents an increase over the past four years. The 2020-21 budget was for $10,126,228, the 2019-20 budget was for $9,756,342.64, and the 2018-19 budget was for $8,911,096.
    Judge Executive David Fields read through the budget line-by-line with County Treasurer Vicky King present and Maryanne Roseberry who will be assuming that position upon King’s retirement in June. Magisrates asked questions or discussion items throughout the budget workshop.
    Highlights of the revenue portion including an increase in property tax, occupational tax, and landfill fees.
    The occupational tax increase was a result of the new payroll tax taken effect in January 2020. It saw a 16.31% increase from $650,000 to $900,000.
    One area that was budgeted but a figure that is truly unknown is the alcohol fees and taxes from alcohol sales with the recently passed alcohol ordinance. The city of Butler is on the verge of passing their own alcohol ordinance that will lessen the revenue for the county from Butler based businesses but also several of the retail license licenses that the court had hoped would be located in the northern end of the county have been applied for by Falmouth based businesses. Those fees would go to the city of Falmouth and not help the hope of seeing a growth in businesses in Northern Pendleton County.
    As far as appropriations, most line items stayed the same or had a slight increase or decrease with no noticeable major changes except for a couple line items.
    King pointed out that some numbers will be changing as they are reliant on figures they receive from the state and not all figures have been sent to the county.
    During the discussion, there was much discussion on what to do with the economic development director position with the soon retirment of Bill Mitchell.
    The road fund saw a decrease in appropriations from $897,375 in 2020-21 to $771,465 budgeted in 2021-22.
    The jail fund has been widely discussed but saw a decrease in charges with the onslaught of covid which changed the way court was held. Year-to-date the line item has $236,000 with a bill for April at $28,000. May still has to be paid in this fiscal year. The line item was budgeted at $300,000.
    Concerning the industrial authority $5,000 line item, District 4 Magistrate Rick Mineer said he would like to see a stipulation put on the money.
    “They are sitting on a lot of money and nothing is being done,” he said.
    Fields made the suggestion, “For those sitting on that committee or for magistrates, I think tey need to express that. I think a little communication would help.”
    The court will hold the first reading of the 2021-22 Pendleton County budget on Tuesday, May 11 at 6 p.m. during their regular scheduled meeting. The public is invited to attend.
    Pendleton County teacher Ethan Wright presented his usage of the funds received from the 109 Board in creating a virtual classroom that could be used for many things including immersive field trips without the students leaving the school.
    “There is no other classroom in the region like this. This is a point of pride for Pendleton County and our little county school is on the cutting edge of this technology,” said Wright.
    The classroom consists of 20 virtual reality headsets and he has applied for a grant for 10 more headsets. He is also asking for a donation for a camera that would allow him to record a 360 degree view of local businesses to give students an idea of what happens in a day at a local business.
    “This is geared to keep local talent here in the county,” he said. “Students can fill jobs in the county that presently they don’t know exists.”
    While the court cannot take action during caucus, they expressed a strong desire to help this project.
    The court entered into a long discussion on the route the county needs to partake upon Mitchell’s retirement. Several court members expressed the desire for a tourism director that would go along with the economic director position.
    Mineer pointed out “We employ Bill on economics but most of the work is done for the cities and water disricts. We don’t qualify for grants. The funds may better be spent on tourism director than economic director.”
    Fields countered, “Make it both. have the Ad district put out the criteria and take applications.”
    Mineer pointed out that Cynthiana hired a tourism director and look at the events added in the last five years.
    “They are getting the most bang for the buck. It is on tourism,” he said.
    District 2 Magistrate Josh Plummer posed the question of which should come first, attracting a business or tourism.
    Mineer repeated a stat that he has used several times. One dollar spent in Pendleton County changes hands seven times in the county. He added that KRT is almost 100% outside money and Wool Festival is a large percentage of outside the county money.
    Fields added on the economics side, “To attract any business, the contact person has to be knowledgeable about sites and be able to answer questions posed on the site visits.”