BENTON – A special called meeting of the Fiscal Court was called to order on Monday at 4:00 by newly appointed Judge Executive Chyrill Miller who was sworn in earlier that day. The meeting was called to address the 2015 Sheriff’s Department budget.
Commissioner Dr. Rick Cocke informed the court that he and Sheriff Kevin Byars had a lengthy meeting to discuss the budget and all of his questions and concerns had been answered for the most part in that meeting.
Commissioner Johnny Bowlin questioned the $107,000 line item overage of the deputies salary which Commissioner Bob Gold addressed by saying the amount was covered under the umbrella of the departments budget and that funds were simply re-directed to cover the overage.
The 2015 budget is less than the 2014 budget according to Byars and he stressed to the commissioners to always come to him with any concerns before a new budget is presented in the future.
Cocke expressed his concerns that the trend of the overage does not continue and was assured by Byars that it will not due to amendments that can be made to head off any potential overages.
Byars explained the breakdown of his officers duties and which ones, 14 in total, that actually cover the county’s population, going on to say that our specialized units and county make-up makes it difficult to compare Marshall County with other surrounding county departments with the exception of McCracken County.
The court approved the Sheriff’s 2015 budget as well as the resolution setting the maximum annual amount to be expended for deputies and assistants at $1,300,000 which is base salary only.
Miller suggested to Byars that it might be of help to the commissioners and county treasurer to submit a quarterly report, which was approved.