FY 2017 budget fails to pass a third time, will continue on with past year figures
The good news? Polk County’s employees will be getting most of their raises after all.
The bad news? The FY 2017 budget remains in a deadlock following another round of sometimes heated debate between commissioners for and against figures that include the assistant county manager position.
Commissioners voted down the original proposed budget and amendments during their Aug. 2 regular session, leaving the county once again operating off of the FY 2016 number after a continuing resolution was passed.
The board also approved a resolution to retroactively apply the 2009 to 2012 missed step increases and the FY 2017 step increase for employees, but did not include the extra 1.25 percent raise to give a total of 2.5 percent for the year.
Commissioners put forth the original figures again, and Jennifer Hulsey added an amendment first put forth to the board back during the June 28 special meeting for approving the budget.
That amendment – reduce in force the assistant county manager position and the executive assistant to pay for a 2.5 percent pay increase this fiscal year – was approved 3-2, but was vetoed by Commission chair Stefanie Drake Burford
vote on that later,” Hulsey said. “Right now, why would we vote on something that we don’t need?”
When commissioners began arguing over again whether the position should be kept, Hulsey asked how Ward came up with a figure of six months before a decision is made.
Following that several commissioners eluded to the coming change on the board in January 2017, when Chuck Thaxton is slated to join commissioners in the seat now held by Ray Barber for District 2, and how that might impact the budget vote.
Tillery added his voice to the conversation, thanking Ward again for the work in finding a compromise, and asking for time to look over the proposal.
“It’s going to take time. All the commissioners need to take a look at the hard work Jason has done on this,” Tillery said. “And then fund that position in the future if that is what the board wants to do.”
It came down to the previous arguments all over again between the trio who want to eliminate the position, and those who want to keep it.
Tillery and Hulsey continued to push for elimination of the job, with examples provided of how other counties handled having only a county manager and commission by Tillery.
He again put forth evidence of how other counties have handled the workload without an assistant county manager, using population size and annual budgets of counties close to the size of Polk to show that if it can work in other places, it can work in Polk. And despite the numbers Ward put forward as a compromise, they believe eliminating the positions are the only way to pay for raises over the long term.
In the end, the night’s second amendment to the budget was defeated in a 3 to 2 vote, with Ward and Marshelle Thaxton approving and Barber, Hulsey and Tillery against.
The FY 2017 budget as originally presented to the board was also defeated 3 to 2.
Commissioners then voted on at least one compromise to help employees out, put forth by Tillery when approving the agenda to follow after budget discussions if the board failed to pass.
A resolution passed unanimously to allow the county to pay out the missed step increas- es between 2009 and 2012 for employees who were on the payroll and still with the county, and the 1.25 percent step increase raise for this year. It also paid for county police detectives to remain on their 84 hour pay period to ensure they have equal pay to those officers on patrol at the same rank.
It did not include the extra 1.25 percent raise or some other items that had been added to the budget previously, including paying for a new county maintenance employee.
Discussions over the budget were part of the Monday night work session where Commissioners Jennifer Hulsey and Scotty Tillery again argued the salaries for the position of assistant county manager and the executive assistant for county administration should be cut, and that money be used to pay for employee step raises for the coming fiscal year.
On the other side of the budget battle are Commissioners Thaxton and Ward, who want to keep the position and proposed a budget fix in July that would have taken money from the general fund balance to pay for step raises and keep the two positions on the payroll.
The Aug. 1 work session brought up many of the same arguments from previous weeks as one side states the two positions aren’t needed if department heads were given more responsibility, and other counties operate without an assistant around the same size and budget as Polk County all across the state.
Ward however neglected to bring up his plan for increasing the amount of revenue taken in from ad valorem and motor vehicle taxes to pay for raises and keep the position.
The commission did get into a long discussion – that later continued during the Aug. 2 regular session – over the duties of the assistant county manager position.
Hulsey questioned Denton and Police Chief Kenny Dodd during the meeting as to how former assistant county manager David McElwee handled the position.
McElwee, Denton explained, was given the main task of overseeing the county’s various public safety-based departments, from the Polk County Police Department to the 911 Operations Center.
Dodd said he only went to McElwee when it required his attention, citing personnel and financial issues as the main reasons he would need to go to the assistant county manager.
“I’m trying to understand the reason for having a go-between for department heads,” Hulsey said. “I know you (Denton) have a lot going on and I don’t discount that. But what I see is, I don’t see a disparaging difference from when we had an assistant county manager with what you do, and when we don’t have an assistant county manager with what you do.”
Denton said that when he was brought in as assistant county manager, he was “put in charge of certain departments, and I took them and ran with it.”
It all depended on the relationship between himself and whatever assistant county manager held the role after he took on the role of county manager, as it had been in the past according to Denton.
“If your question is, what exactly would an assistant county manager do? The assistant county manager – the next one, if we have another one – would be in charge of projects. With managing projects, and not just one but multiple projects,” Denton said. “That position in the past has been a liaison not just with the police department heads, but also with residents of the county.”
Denton said since McElwee left in March to run for the office of Tax Commisioner, his workload with the public has especially increased.
“I have numerous people in my office on a daily basis that I didn’t have before,” Denton said. “I answer numerous phone calls that I didn’t get before.”
He pointed out that “I’m interrupted repeatedly” whenever he gets involved with project planning. Denton also pointed out that he needs to do a better job of delegating, “more than what I do.”
Hulsey asked if the department heads were given more responsibilities would a system work, to which Denton said “it’s a possibility.”
“They would have to assume the liability of having to make decisions and be held accountable for those decisions,” Denton said. “I think some of them understand that.”
Hulsey proposed a potential plan to allow for the county to experiment with giving department heads more authority to be able to pass the FY 2017 budget “so we can see kind of how it would work, and then see where the future takes us.”
“I think there would be a learning curve, and I’m not sure how much of a learning curve to get certain department heads to a level where they would feel comfortable with making those decisions,” Denton said.
He added that he discussed the possibility with a “few” of the department heads and their opinion of the idea was they would do what- ever the board decided.
Thaxton did ask “if you had a heart attack tonight, who would run our county?” to which Denton explained that several county employees would have to step in and help out until the position can be filled.
Thaxton also gave Denton high praise for having learned under former County Manager Clinton Lester how to manage the county’s affairs.
“Clinton prepared you well for the county manager’s job,” he said.
Denton said that his role as an assistant county manager entailed work he’d already done in previous positions, so it made the transition easier.
Tillery again pointed to counties he researched without the position in place, with either one more or one less commissioner, and with a budget range close to Polk County’s proposed spending for FY 2017.
His point: if other counties make it work without one, why can’t we?
“I want to support something if it is something we need to have,” Tillery said.
Barber also made his point that he’d been through county managers and assistant county managers in his time on the board, and he felt it was as simple as whether someone can do the job or not.
Ward argued over salary requirements during his comments, along with the fact that the commission hasn’t been forced to use any fund balance to pay for previous step raise increases in the past because county employees found other ways to save money over the years.