Budget meetings

The County Council held its annual budget meetings this week. On Tuesday night they heard from weed control, the Coroner,  and the sheriff's department. Weed control mostly suppresses marijuana that grows in the County but also does a bit with Canadian thistle and Palmer amaranth.

The Sheriff's Department has seven different budgets, including the jail budget, 911, and public safety. The Sheriff made a case for adding a second resource officer for the KV school system. (The  Rensselaer Republican reports on this in depth.) He also again expressed his concern that the current pay and retirement packages encourage officers to resign after twenty years, which means that new officers must be hired and go through training and be equipped, both very expensive.

The remainder of Tuesday's meeting took up additional appropriations for this year, including requests for Animal Control, Planning and Development Board members, Community Corrections, Veterans Affairs, and Drainage Board.

My interest in blogging is not great enough to motivate me to attend the full budget hearings though undoubtedly there are many interesting facts that come out during the proceedings. However, I went back on Wednesday afternoon to provide moral support for one on the presenters. The Council heard from a variety of agencies, including Animal Control, Emergency Preparedness, the Assessor, and the Highway Department.  It also heard from Commissioner Culp. The most interesting part of his presentation was a discussion of health insurance costs. The County spends $3.7 million each year for insurance, most or all for health insurance. That works out to the equivalent of $15 per hour per employee.

In other news, work on the Mt Calvary intersection south of town is not finished but currently no work is being done there.

CDC Resources is having a rummage sale today and tomorrow. The items on sale came from the various collection boxes they had in Jasper and Newton Counties. They have pulled most of the boxes--sales at the Monticello thrift store cannot keep up with donations. (This may be a result of the improved economy—people shop less at thrift stores and are more willing to donate used items.) I was impressed with the quality of the items for sale and was told they did some culling before the sale. It would be nice to again have a CDC thrift store locally.

I have seen several corn fields that have already been harvested. The recent rains have made the grass grow again, which means we will have to mow more.