County cuts budget by 95K

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.