The voter mandated raise in the minimum wage and federal mandated adjustments in the Fair Labor Standards Act are just two of the challenges the Baxter County Quorum Court budget committee is facing as it begins work for 2020. The committee met for its first session to prepare for next year’s budget Monday afternoon.
In part two of our series, Baxter County Judge Mickey Pendergrass says the committee is also contending with soaring health insurance costs and a big-ticket item request for new voting machines.
Judge Pendergrass says the county has been hammered on its employee benefit package for the past three to four years.
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After mandates and cost increases, the budget committee will look at requests, including new voting equipment. Judge Pendergrass says after the state’s contribution of about $180,000, the county is still looking at big dollars.
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Pendergrass says further dollars would be needed for training poll workers. In addition, the judge says there is an ongoing debate questioning if poll workers compensation will fall under the minimum wage increases. Poll workers are now paid $125 per day.
Pendergrass says additional equipment can be purchased from other counties that have upgraded. These purchases could be used to bolster Baxter County’s existing machines. He says election officials feel they could get by with this plan temporarily and the county would be in good shape going into the presidential election year.
Pendergrass says with all the challenges before the budget committee, the one-quarter percent sales tax for the operation of the county jail has cushioned what would have been an even more challenging situation. In addition, the move to vote centers, reducing the number of polling locations and the amount of equipment, has also been a significant help.
But in the end, the bigger question is what will the increased costs in the county’s budget mean to taxpayers?
Pendergrass says while a plan has not been developed, an increase in the property tax millage will be on the table for the quorum court to consider, a decision that will be made in November.
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