County commissioners voted to reduce funding for several county departments by a total of $95,112 at the Jan. 25 meeting.County manager Bill Sawyer said the cuts were made to eliminate some of the county’s $800,000 debt. The parks and recreation authority received the largest budget cut of $43,315. The Pike Industrial Development Authority budget was reduced by $19,023, the library board budget was cut by $13,867, the water authority budget was cut by $10,000, the Department of Family and Children Services was cut by $6,406 and the agri-business authority was cut by $2,499. Commissioners took a lengthy executive session to discuss combining probate and magistrate courts. Magistrate judge Marcia Callaway-Ingram spoke during the public hearing before the meeting and implored commissioners to allot additional funds to the magistrate court as she did in a letter to the county manager and commissioners.’In essence, magistrate court is charged with running a functioning and efficient court for 12 months on less money than it operated on in the eight months of the last fiscal year,’ the letter read. ‘Notice also that the magistrate court budget is the only department in the courts/criminal justice category that didn’t receive an increase from the fiscal year 2009-10 budget. No other court/criminal justice related department’s budget was decreased.’Commissioners did not take any action on the magistrate court issue.
County cuts budget by 95K
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