County passes annual budget

By Staff
Jonathan Willis
The county commission passed an $11.3 million budget Tuesday morning that included a raise for county workers.
The $11,312,496.86 budget included a 25-cent per hour raise for county employees on each pay scale.
The budget is divided with portions going to the general fund, the solid waste department and to the highway department.
The county general fund will be $5,613,499.47. The solid waste department will operate on a budget of $2,616,160.85.
The highway department's budget is $3,082,836.54.
Probate Judge Barry Moore said the difference needed to balance this year's budget will come from transfers from the capital improvement fund, public buildings fund, public highway and traffic fund and the fund balance brought forward from the previous fiscal year.
The commission also heard from Phillip Wilson, manager of the solid waste department, who informed them of a $1 dollar per ton increase put into effect by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.
Wilson said that would have nothing to do with garbage rates and would only affect paying customers, such as companies, who use the landfill.
"This has nothing to do with residents at all and is no kind of increase on garbage rates," he said. "It's just something ADEM put into effect and we have to do."
The commission also accepted the resignation of assistant county engineer Chris Barnwell, who has accepted a position in Winston County.