POPLARVILLE —
Chancery Clerk David Earl Johnson, in his report to the board on Monday, said if his office’s reimbursements to the county are counted he’s not over budget, although reports say he is nine percent over his budget.
That’s because, says Johnson, reimbursements by him to the county are counted on the county books as revenue and not true reimbursements for expenses. Both Johnson and Circuit Court Clerk Vickie Hariel maintain the same thing concerning their accounts, that fees generated by their offices and paid to the board of supervisors, are counted in the county budget as revenue and not a reimbursement for expenses.
Both said that if what they return to the budget is counted as reimbursement for expenses, they are not over budget.
Johnson’s deputy clerk Marie Burge gave the Chancery Court Clerk’s response to the board’s request for information on how to solve the shortfall in county funds, which, says county administrator Adrain Lumpkin, Jr., will cause the county to run out of money soon if not reversed or stabilized.
Johnson said his office is open to anyone who wants to come in. “I will show you where our money comes from, where it goes and everything about my office. I love serving the people of Pearl River County and everything in my office is open to the public,” Johnson said.
He said most of his expenses are fixed by law and can’t be reduced without changes in the law by the State Legislature. Said Johnson in a letter to the board, “At this time of the year, our major expense is mailing of approximately 2,500 Certified Letters to landowners and lienors for the maturing 2009 taxes. The cost of the postage will be approximately $14,500. This cost eventually is reimbursed to the county as the taxes are paid. This is required by law and out of our control.”
Johnson also told the board that the Chancery Court and Lunacy Court budgets “are hard to project.”
Said Johnson, “The majority of the expenditures depend upon the number of days the Chancery Judges hold Court and the number of commitments that are processed. These budgets can only be prepared using historical data.”
Added Johnson, “Chancery has never abused the purchase order process and does not intend to do so. We have reduced the full-time personnel to a minimum to keep costs down.”
A number of officials reported to the board on Monday besides Johnson and Hariel. Tax assessor-collector Gary Beech also addressed the board, as did Justice Court Chief Clerk Debbie Amacker.
Supervisors on June 11 implemented a hiring freeze, a freeze on issuing purchase orders to departments over budget and directed department heads to tell the board on Monday what they planned to do about budgets being out of line. The moves were unprecedented.
Supervisors plan to meet again on Monday in a recessed meeting from last Monday’s meeting, and to continue discussions and consultations on budget matters.
Even a former supervisor spoke out on the issue this week. Former Beat Three Supervisor Hudson Holliday said he saw the crisis coming last year and warned fellow supervisors that the board needed to ride herd on expenses on a monthly basis.
“I don’t want to say I-told-you-so, and I know people will think that I have no right to say anything as a former board member, but I can speak out as a private citizen, and I am saying this thing was predictable,” said Holliday.
Holliday chose not to run for supervisor since he chose to run for governor last fall. Dennis Dedeaux was elected to fill the Beat Three post.
Beat One Supervisor Anthony Hales on Tuesday said he saw the crisis coming and tried, over the past several years, to warn the board. “I have consistently told the board that we have to create new revenue streams, that this would eventually happen,” Hales said on Tuesday.
He recently proposed a one-cent sales tax to generate another county revenue stream, saying property owners are “tapped out” on taxes. Hales pointed out that the cities in the state get sales tax rebates to help them with their budgets, but the county gets nothing from sales taxes and must depend solely on ad valorem taxes on homes and property. Poplarville and Picayune budgets are half made up with sales tax rebate money.
Hales has taken flak for his proposal.
Johnson told supervisors on Monday, “The Chancery Clerk Department is currently over budget 9.5 percent. Highlighted on the copy of the 2011-2012 budget are four items that each payday is reimbursed to the county for the Chancery Employees Salaries.”
He added, “However, the budget for the Chancery Clerk’s Office does not reflect the funds returned each payday to the county for the salaries of the employees of the Chancery Clerk office. Of the $361,724.61 expended through May 31, 2012, chancery has reimbursed the county $225,245.21.”
He continued, “It is our understanding that the funds are taken in consideration as revenue when the annual budgets are prepared. However, credit for the funds each payday are not reflected on the expenditures sheet. If the funds were reflected on the expenditures sheet it would show that the chancery office has only expended 28.7 percent of the budgeted funds.”
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Chancery Court Deputy Clerk Marie Burge addresses supervisors on Monday about the budget crisis. She said the chancery court office will work with supervisors to rein in spending. David A. Farrell
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