Committee: City should end payroll, accounting services for 911 dispatch

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015, 8 p.m. — The Bardstown City Council’s finance committee met Wednesday to discuss if the city should continue to handle the payroll, budget and paying bills for the joint city-county E-911 Dispatch Center.

Chief Financial Officer Tracy Hudson, right, discusses the 911 dispatch board budget deficit during a special meeting Wednesday of the city’s finance committee. Councilmen Fred Hagan, left, and Roland Williams.

Tracy Hudson, the city’s chief financial officer, told the committee that questions arose during the city’s financial audit in regard to the dispatch board budget running a deficit that requires the city to cover.

The dispatch board’s deficit is likely to be something that will be noted in the auditor’s report on the city’s 2015-16 budget.

The City of Bardstown handles payroll and benefits, budgeting and accounting for the 911 Dispatch Center. Human Resources Director Larry Green told the committee that those duties are a carry-over from the days when the city had its own dispatchers for police and fire. When the city and county agreed to join forces for a joint dispatch center, the city continued to handle financial management, despite the fact that the center is not under the direction of the city.

That arrangement has worked well over the years — until the dispatch center ran into deficits, Green said.

“If they always had a positive balance we probably wouldn’t be talking about it, but because they have a negative balance and a deficit, it points out the fact that we have a financial liability for an agency we have no control over,” Green said.

If the dispatch center didn’t have the city to cover the deficit, they would be operating in the red, Hudson said.

The deficit for the 2015-16 fiscal year stands at $64,000, Hudson told the committee. That figure includes the $24,000 offset from the city’s contributions after the dispatch center quit handling the city’s after-hours utility calls. The city spent that much money to hire a service for after-hours utility calls.

“The question is, should the City of Bardstown be taking on the liability of the debts of another agency?” Green asked the committee. “The answer, according to the auditor, is that we clearly shouldn’t.”

The interlocal agreement that established the dispatch board does not determine what entity would handle its finances, he said.

After additional discussion, the committee decided to recommend that the city request the dispatch board to take over its payroll, budgeting and accounting duties.

NEXT UP. The committee’s recommendation will be part of a report to the Bardstown City Council at its Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015, meeting.

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