News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
A positive budget outlook has officials in Fentress County eyeing a pay increase for some county workers.
County Executive Jimmy Johnson said fiscal responsibility has left Fentress County on solid financial ground. He said commissioners try to treat county money like it was their own.
“They have proven to do that,” Johnson said. “I know a lot of places are not able to give a raise this year, but hopefully when we get through that we’ll be able to give our emergency a percentage raise. Right now I think it’s at a 6 percent raise for emergency personnel and 4 percent for all clerical.”
Johnson said he expects Fentress County’s budget to be passed by the June 30 deadline. He said the county is awaiting word from the state on some funding, but he is optimistic the budget will be passed without an extension.
“We’re pushing our best to have things done by (June 30),” Johnson said. “We’re waiting on some things from the state as far as our senior citizens on some of the things we get, such as nutrition and other odds-and-ends. Hopefully the finance department and the commission are really pushing to have things done by the 30th of June, and hopefully it is. If we can get everything in here, it will be done. It will be the first time I believe it’s done by the 30th if not ever, then in the last several years.”
The Fentress County budget committee meets tonight at 5:30 p.m. Johnson said Fentress County, like most counties around Tennessee, received grant money from an initiative by Governor Bill Lee. He said the county is trying to take advantage of those funds.
“You can always use more funds coming in,” Johnson said. “You hope you have more coming in than you have going out. This right here, what the state sent down to all the counties, I don’t know know if somebody just foresaw all this was going to happen and decided to do it. We’re very appreciative, and I’m sure all the counties are very appreciative of what they’ve gotten from the state this year. It may not ever happen again, but it happened this year, and we’re going to do the most we can with it and there’ll be a lot of improvements here in Fentress County because of it.”
Johnson said some of the things the county wants to work on include improvements to the courthouse, getting the county 100 percent ADA compliant, and road improvements.
