Cumberland Budget Likely Steady, Provide For Employees

Weeks of work remain on Cumberland County’s annual budget, but Mayor Allen Foster said it is on track to take care of what the county needs.

Foster said more data about the county’s revenues must be collected before they can more forward. Foster said the main priority of the budget will be to provide the county’s existing employees with the largest raises affordable.

“Sales tax seems to be contracting and things like that, so probably going to be more or less a basic budget,” Foster said. “Spend money on the capital items that we have, that we have to have. We’ve got a lot of money going out right now on a couple of major construction projects that we’ve got.”

Foster said county officials will continue to meet several more times throughout June to work on the budget. He said they usually do not approve an official budget until late July, after the fiscal year is over.

“There’s a continuing budget so people can still, you know, operate and it’s not a problem, but it gives us another couple of weeks to make sure what our incomes are and what we’ve got left, and generally speaking it has saved us money throughout the years,” Foster said.

Foster said the county is currently budgeting for an addition to its archive facility and renovations for the historic courthouse where he and other county officials have their offices.

“We had some problems that shut the old part of the courthouse down,” Foster said. “We’ve been doing a lot of repair work, and then we’re doing a complete remodel on that as well, so lots going on.”

Foster said the entire budget is subject to changes depending on the numbers they end up with for the county’s income and expenses throughout the past year.

“You have capital needs every year,” Foster said. “You have ambulances and equipment, you know, we try to keep our ambulances top of the line in the Upper Cumberland, if not the state. You know, when you show up we want it to be able take care of you, those types of things. We have rotations with sheriffs. We back the blue. We want to make sure that our sheriff’s department and our first responders and fire are all that’s taken care of. So, you know, it’s just like your household. You take care of the things that are needed the most first. And that’s what we’re trying to do this year.”