The Putnam County Budget Committee asked department heads and elected officials Monday night to cut ten percent of their request increases.
The proposal made in an effort to cover a proposed cost of living adjustment for county employees. That increase would cost the county some $345,000. Sheriff Eddie Farris said making a cut would be difficult since his department asked for as little as possible.
“I think when we presented, we presented it well,” Farris said. “So I’m not trying to avoid the question, but quite frankly, if anybody’s, you know, if we’re going to cut some out of our budget, y’all will have to decide what we’re going to cut, not me. I asked for what I needed.”
The proposal made by Commissioner David Andrews, who said increases across all departments totaled some $4 million. Andrews said the proposed cuts would be enough to fund most of the raises.
Andrews said education incentives, the health department in Monterey, medical director, step raises, and training for new directors would not be subject to the proposed cuts.
County Clerk Wayne Nabors disagreed with the proposal. Nabors said he did not have ten percent to cut since his budget was around the same as last year, unless he were to remove funding for another full time employee.
Other department heads, including Fire Chief Jeff Hicks, said the cuts were doable.
“I’m like the Sheriff, I don’t ask for anything I don’t need,” Hicks said. “But sitting back, running over my numbers, I’ve asked for a $173,000 increase. That includes three new employees, no raises, other than the step raises which I took out. I can cut my budget by $17,300 pretty easy and make this work, if that pleases you. It all won’t come out of one place, but I can adjust it, make it really easy. “
The motion was discussed at length, and was ultimately passed by a 5-4 roll call vote. Commissioners Jonathan Williams, Chris Cassetty, Darren Wilson, and Vinnie Faccinto voted no. Andews, along with Commissioners Grover Bennett, Sam Sandlin, Dale Moss, and Chair Ben Rodgers voted yes.
Rodgers, who cast the deciding vote, did so because Andrews was willing to propose a solution to help combat the deficit.
“There’s nothing wrong with us asking [the department heads] to put some work into cutting something,” Rodgers said. “And [Andrews] giving you that chance to do it is better than us doing it for you, in my opinion.”
Rodgers asked each department to come back before the committee with their proposed cuts by the June 30 meeting. The Budget Committee will meet again Thursday evening.
