Fiscal Court gets over a million dollars in excess fees

Keegan Harris, Commonwealth Journal, Somerset, Ky.
·4 min read

Mar. 16—The county is positively rolling in it following Tuesday's biweekly Fiscal Court meeting. Departments gave their reports for the end of the fiscal year of 2022 and presented their fee excess.

Pulaski County Sheriff Bobby Jones first presented the budget of his predecessor's (Greg Speck) from last year then gave the county a check of $46,113.79.

This check was accepted unanimously by the court.

In the year of 2022, the Pulaski County Clerk's office had a fairly significant total of excess fees. Clerk Tim Price presented these excess fees in the form of a check to the court. He read the grand total allowed as $1,165,060.90.

The court was very pleased with this and noted that this was the highest amount of funds they had received from excess fees.

The court unsurprisingly accepted the check unanimously.

In other events:

—Pulaski County Judge Executive Marshall Todd began the meeting thanking the fire department and other emergency workers for helping to clear debris and restore power to the working people of Pulaski County. Though there's still much to do to repair the county following the high winds seen recently, Todd felt that the progress already made was commendable.

—Crissa Morris was sworn in as Pulaski County's new treasurer to fill the slot left by the retirement of Joan Isaacs.

—Pulaski Count Attorney Martin Hatfield read aloud for the second time the Blue Light Ordinance for constables.

—The court read new bids for the Haynes Knob Fire Station roofing project and for White Lily Fire Station's renovation. Director of Public Safety Stacy Halcomb approached the podium following the reading and accepted the bids. He shared his plans to to review the bids and get back with the court at a later date.

—Roads being removed from the county included Echo Point, Farms Road, Goldenberg Lane, and Schooley Lane. The court voted to advertise public meetings on these roads' removal from the county road system.

—Mowing bids were advertised. Properties being mowed were advertised Wednesday.

—Garage Foreman Frank Hansford then stepped to the podium to speak on the surplussing of a backhoe. He told the court the backhoe would not run and was in "rough shape."

Fourth District Magistrate of Pulaski County Mark Ranshaw expressed concern about having only one backhoe saying that, if something were to happen to it, the county would suffer some consequences.

Ranshaw said that a solution would need to be found, however Hansford addressed his fears by saying they still had five operable backhoes. Fifth District Magistrate of Pulaski County Mike Strunk wondered if some of the excess funds could go to a backhoe.

Strunk felt that the county would not be able to operate without a spare backhoe considering their daily use. The court asked if Hansford could get back in a week with research into a new backhoe. Hansford affirmed he would.

A motion was put out to accept $100,000 in excess fees would be used to procure a spare backhoe. The motion was seconded. Ranshaw took discussion to question the motion saying it should be amended in case the $100k figure would not cover the backhoe. A brief discussion was had whether this was necessary ending in Ranshaw's concession that the motion would carry. It was passed unanimously.

—Judge Todd then spoke on the state of Pulaski County Public Park which saw a lot of damage following the storm. He asked for a new hire to be added in order to assist with this clean up, noting that the county will receive 60 seasonal campers to stay in the park. He said the county was "in a major crunch" to prepare the park for the campers' arrival, and this necessitated the new hire. The motion passed unanimously with plans for the new hire to start in two weeks.

—Karen Bishop's title was changed from "floater flex" to skilled labor and maintenance.

—A motion to purchase 3,000 tons of rock and 3,000 gallons of total patch oil and hot mix was carried unanimously.

—Jessica Lee with Help the Homeless came up to the podium during public comments to advertise for the first annual conference for Help the Homeless.

—The court went into executive session where the discussed and approved the salary for the Emergency Management Director.