The Jackson County Budget Committee heard the first of several rounds of department head requests for the new budget cycle Tuesday night.
EMS Director Keith Bean said he wanted to add a floater position for the department, adding some $54,000 in expense. Bean said the floater would be trained to fill in any open position based on the specific needs of the shift they are assigned to.
“Right now, the only way I can get stuff covered a lot of times is if somebody works 12 hours over,” Bean said. “That puts them in all overtime. That’s my plan, is to get shifts covered and to cut down on the overtime with it. And all the guys, used to you’d have to worry about them fussing because you want to take my overtime away, now they’re like, ‘I want to take off.'”
Bean said the floater would make it easier for employees to take time off if they need to. Bean said the floater would not have a consistent set schedule, but will get full time hours.
Bean said other increases from last year’s proposal were made to meet inflation demands and based on last fiscal year’s spending. He requested an additional $5,000 for drugs and medical, as well as $600 for custodial use. Bean said his estimate was conservative, as he only budgeted what he saw as needs.
Election Commission head Drew McMillan requested funding for a new voter ID system called Poll Pad. McMillan said the system uses an iPad, and would replace the need for large books listing registered voters. The iPad camera scans a voter’s ID to check them in, and once approved, it will print off the ballot application with a receipt printer.
“This would help us cut down one poll worker from each site,” McMillan said. “That’s really one of the hardest things we have to do is make sure we have enough workers. And most of our workers are up there in age.”
The software would work across iPads in all 13 Jackson County precincts, and a WiFi connection is not necessary to run the program.
The software comes with a price tag of some $33,000 for installation and a $2,300 annual license. Election workers are paid $100 per day. In the past, Jackson County has used three workers at each polling location.
County Trustee Anthony Flatt said his big expense would be some $20,000 for data entry. Other costs, like communications and travel have increased for inflation. Flatt said he would like to see his office remodeled this year, a project that could be covered by the County General Fund.
“When you’re counting a lot of cash out, I have nowhere to hide,” Flatt said. “That money is just out in the open. It’s just there. If you take that room and split it in half and all I need is the back half of it.”
Commissioner Josh Denson said if renovations were to happen in the new fiscal year, they would need to get the process started soon.
The Jackson County Budget Committee will hear from more department heads over their next two meetings, with the goal of reaching more polished numbers by the July 17 meeting. The committee’s next meeting is Thursday evening at the Jackson County Courthouse.
