Wayne County Fiscal Court met in special session this (Tuesday) morning at the Court House with County Judge Executive Scott Gehring and all members present. The purpose of the meeting for a budget work session for the upcoming Fiscal Year which begins July 1st.
Magistrates discussed the addition of Hazardous Duty Retirement for the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office deputies. Sheriff Tim Catron addressed the court concerning the challenges the office faces hiring and retaining deputies due to the lack of Hazardous Duty Retirement. Finance Officer Dawn Harmon told the court that the county’s contribution this year would be 35.73 percent of the individual deputies salary, adding $120,000 annually to the budget, but the county would still have an approximate $400,000 surplus after the increase.
Cost of living raises were discussed, with magistrates settling on an across the board raise for all employees of at least 52 cents per hour. Some departments, such as the Jail and 9-1-1 have the option to stack their increases which could result in higher hourly raises depending on which arm of county government the employee works for.
There was also discussion on possibly purchasing vehicles for the Wayne County Rescue Squad, Wayne County Recycling Center, and Wayne County Coroner’s Office. The pros and cons of new vs used was discussed at length. Judge Gehring told the court that due to the recent acquisition of newer model vehicles for many of the county departments, the annual maintenance and repair budget was slashed down to $50,000 for the upcming fiscal year, a savings of $30,000.
This was a work session only and no actions were taken. The Wayne County Fiscal Court meets in special session at 8:30 Tuesday, April 29th at the Court House. At this meeting magistrates are expected to finalize the upcoming fiscal year budget for submission to the state, then it will have to be officially adopted during an upcoming regular monthly session.