VAIDEN — Carroll County supervisors are facing the last quarter of the year with a deficit in the jail budget, and on Monday they once again quizzed Sheriff Jerry Carver on his remedy for the situation.
Board Vice President Terry Herbert told Carver since 80 percent of the jail budget consists of personal services, salaries and benefits, that is where the majority of cuts must come from.
“You can’t cut 20 percent from the 20 percent,” Herbert said.
Herbert also asked Board Attorney Kevin Horan whether the board can be held responsible if the jail spends more than it has in revenue. Horan said the board would have responsibility either through a bond or personally.
A report given by Tony Green of North Central Planning and Development District showed the jail spent $274,535 in September and said if that level of spending continued, it would possibly spend $31,202 per month over revenue.
Revenue has decreased in recent months because fewer inmates are being sent to the county. The jail budget has been based on 270 state inmates, but currently the number is 233.
Carver told the board he needed to wait until the American Corrections Audit is over to make further cuts. The audit started Monday morning and will be finished Thursday.
“Are you saying you will make the cuts?” Beat 5 Supervisor Rickie Corley asked Carver.
“I have some ideas,” Carver said.
He told the board he will meet with Green on Thursday and figure out where cuts have to be made. Carver reminded the board that anyone laid off could collect unemployment that would be paid for by the county.
Carver said he has lowered deputies’ salaries by $16 each pay period in order to put two deputies’ pay under the Sheriff’s Department rather than the jail.
The board also continued discussion of what to do about work inmates whom MDOC had told them they must pay for if they want to keep them. In September, the sheriff said he was told not to bill the county for their board until MDOC hears from the Attorney General’s Office about the legality of the arrangement. The money to pay CMRCF is in the new county budget.
Horan told the board he doesn’t believe there would be anything wrong with billing the county and paying for the inmates’ board. “You could put it in escrow,” he said.
The county is keeping seven work inmates at the jail — four requested by Montgomery County and three to be used in Carroll County. The counties are to reimburse the Carroll Montgomery Regional Correctional Facility $20 per day for the inmates’ board.
In other business, the supervisors:
• Added $5,000 to the salary of Stephanie Gillespie forAdded $5,000 to the salary of Stephanie Gillespie for Voted 3-2 to fund a weather alert for phones that is currently in use in the county. The NCPDD will pay $1,000, and the county will pay $1,500. Beat 3 Supervisor Marvin Coward and Board President Honey Ashmore voted against the motion made by Corley and seconded by Herbert. Citizens can call E-911 and ask that their number be added to the free alerts. “If it saves someone a broken leg or from being killed, it’s worth it,” Corley said.
• Heard from Timothy Fagerburg of the State Fire Marshal’s Office about the department’s role in inspection of manufactured homes for safety requirements.
“Using 2010 census figures, 17 percent of the state’s population lives in a manufactured home,” Fagerburg said. He said the department wants to be sure they are as safe as possible as they provide a cheaper home alternative for many people. He encouraged the county’s tax assessor to notify the Fire Marshal’s Office when a home is added to the role, so that it can be inspected for proper installation.
“There are unlicensed outlaws (installers) who are putting people’s lives in jeopardy,” Fagerburg said. “If we catch, we have authority to detail and call the Sheriff’s Office.”
• Added $5,000 to the salary of Stephanie Gillespie for additional duties of keeping up with the new personnel policy as a human resource officer. Gillespie makes $30,000 as a clerk in the Chancery Clerk’s Office. Her salary will be raised to $35,000. Corley made the motion, Fluker seconded it and the vote was 3-2, with Ashmore and Coward voting no.
