Budget time

The north parking lot at the high school has been paved but not yet painted.

As I stopped by the asphalt roller was being loaded onto the truck trailer.

Work continues on US 231. The picture below was taken on Tuesday near the roller rink.

There are now a couple of structures in what will be a fireman training facility behind Dollar General.

Speaking of Dollar General, Goodland is excited that it will soon get a Dollar General Store. Apparently some of them carry more food than others and the one planned for Goodland will be the more-food type. Goodland is presently a food desert.

On Tuesday evening the Jasper County Council met at the former youth center on Sparling Avenue for its first budget hearing. Before the budget hearings began, it dealt with a few other other items including several additional appropriations. The County Clerk wanted permission to pursue a grant opportunity for a new microfilm reader/printer and it was granted. Animal Control wanted an additional appropriation to pay salaries. This discussion took quite a while because the Council seemed to think that too much money is being spent taking care of stray animals and they pressed the head of Animal Control to find ways to cut costs, perhaps by reducing hours. They granted him $10,000 at this meeting and will consider an additional appropriation at the a future meeting.

Judge Potter was given an additional $12,600 so he can hire another Court Reporter before a current one retires. The reason for the overlap is to allow training. Emergency management was given additional appropriations to pay for training that will be reimbursed. The rule is that payment has to be made and documented before the reimbursement, so the funds will go back into the general fund.

There was a very brief discussion of technology for the Commissioners Room in the Court House with the suggestion that it might be better to equip the conference room in the former youth center (where this meeting was being held) as it was a better meeting place than the small Commissioners Room.

The evening concluded with budget presentations from the Coroner's Office, Judge Bailey, and the Sheriff. In all the presentations the Council members have a printed budget and discussion often centers on the numbers on those printed pages, so the discussion can be hard to follow for a member of the audience.

The Coroner has had 11 more cases this year than at the same time last year. His request had increases where costs had gone up. Judge Bailey anticipates more jury trials in the future; some were delayed because of the virus. He discussed the need for interpreters. He has had to hire Polish and an interpreter for the deaf in addition to the usual Spanish interpreters.

Sheriff Williamson is in charge of seven budgets that total about $6 million. He would like to purchase four new vehicles next year, up from two this year. He and the deputies have 25 vehicles, ten of which have more than 100,000 miles on them. They range from model years 2012 to 2020. The jail census on Tuesday was 63, up from the 40s when much of government was locked down. With jail bonds going back to normal levels, he expects the population to return to the 80s.

On Wednesday the budget hearings resumed and I attended via Zoom, paying partial attention as I did some other things. Most of departments of county government presented and some were very short. Some of the departments asked for no wage raises and others asked for ten percent, and some were in between. One of the departments explained that ten percent was usually thrown in with no expectation it would be granted. The wage increase seems to be one of the last things the Council decides, when it figures out how much money is available.

The Health Department has a new head and Community Corrections will get a new head next year when the current head retires. The prosecutor mentioned that there is one murder trial starting and three more pending. The Commissioners suggested that the per-meeting stipend for those serving on the various board and commissions be raised from $40 to $50. Judge Potter also mentioned the cost of interpreters and said that a reason that Jasper County needs so many is that it has the Interstate running through it. He mentioned interpreters for Mandarin Chinese and Somali, as well as an interpreter for a person who lost hearing and does not know sign language. This interpreter types everything the judge says so the defendant can read it. Interpreters can cost up to $500 per hour.

Economic Development mentioned that there are two big projects on the horizon. One seems to be the solar farm in the north east part of the County which is having problems finding a buyer for its output. The other should be revealed if it starts trying to get the many permits needed before building can begin.

Has anyone else been getting spam calls saying they are from Social Security and my number has been used for illegal activity on the southwest border? I am also getting a lot of calls that hang up immediately when I pick up.