Watts introduces 2020-21 budget, warns on increasing expenses at EMS, county jail
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday, April 28, 2020 — Judge Executive Dean Watts presented the members of Nelson Fiscal Court with a draft of the his proposed 2020-2021 budget, along with a warning to the magistrates about the growth in expenses at the Nelson County Jail and Nelson County EMS.
Watts said the increasing expenses at the Nelson County Jail and Nelson County EMS were worrisome due to their impact on future budgets.
The jail fund has jumped from $1.1 million to about $1.5 million, which will continue to increase unless the county can control expenses, he explained.
And with the ambulance service, the county’s annual subsidy of the service has grown from about $300,000 to $1.1 million.
The EMS budget increases aren’tt due to the EMS service’s management, but because of changes in how Medicare and Medicaid reimburse for their services, and ambulance runs not getting paid as they should.
“Let me just warn the court, those two items are going to be a noose around our necks,” he said. “We’re not going to have the money moving forward unless we do something. We’re going to have to adjust the revenue somewhere along the line if you want to continue to sustain the level of service we’ve enjoyed with EMS and the jail.”
OVERALL BUDGET. Watts introduced his budget by saying that the budget was very similar to the current year’s budget with the exception of the road fund, which is funded by the state tax on fuel.
While the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t known, Watts said the court has already been advised to expect about $300,000 less state money coming in next year for county road paving and maintenance.
On the revenue side, the 2020-2021 budget is based on the county taking a 4 percent property tax revenue increase as allowed by law.
This does not equate to a 4 percent tax increase, he explained. Tax rate change to create the 4 percent increase will depend on the property valuations countywide. Those figures won’t be completed until late this summer. But the revenue increase doesn’t necessarily mean tax rate increase.
For example, last year the county took was able to take the 4 percent revenue increase while leaving the tax rate the same as the previous year.
Watts said the county garbage rate will also be increased 50 cents per month after the new fiscal year begins in June.
Watts said he anticipates a small decrease in the occupation tax revenue for the next fiscal year.
EXPENSES. On the expense side, the county is planning a 3 percent salary increase for employees. Watts said the 3 percent raise will give employees 50 to 75 cents per hour increase.
The county has had a lot of claims on its insurance programs, and it is budgeting a 10 percent increase on both health insurance and liability insurance premiums. He is also working to lower the deductible and out-of-pocket costs on the health insurance plans.
“We’ve had a horrible two to three years,” he said of the liability insurance claims citing lawsuits at the jail and the number of vehicle accidents involving county-owned vehicles.
For the County Employee Retirement System (CERS), the budget includes a 24.06 percent increase in non-hazardous retirement funding, and a 39.58 percent increase in hazardous duty retirement, which was the same as budgeted for 2019-2020.
ROAD FUND. The new budget will include $120,000 for paving and road repairs in each magistrate’s district. The difference for this budget will be the lack of supplemental state money to assist with county road paving projects, Watts said.
He said he would like the magistrates to consider holding back half of their road money for the spring of 2021 to see if additional funds become available from the state by then.
The magistrates, who hadn’t had time to review the budget, did not discuss the budget. Watts said they court will have time to discuss the budget at its next meeting.
“I’m open for ideas and suggestions,” he said.
The court must approve the budget by June 30, 2020.
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