Good news in budget planning

Pike County’s budget process is underway. Nearly all department heads, constitutional officers, elected officers and component units have met individually with the county manager, county clerk and finance officer as the first draft of the fiscal year 2012-13 budget is altered to meet each department’s needs.Some good financial news has arisen from the meetings, saving the county nearly $40,000. ’The Department of Family and Children Services board was kind enough to come to the budget meeting and say it had enough money so it won’t need a county supplement for their office at all, meaning we aren’t going to have to give them roughly $37,000 ‘“ which is a blessing,’ said county manager Bill Sawyer. ‘We’re very pleased with that. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that in 30 years of budgeting.’Edd Sanders is the chairman of the DFCS board and along with director LaResa Price, he delivered the good news to the county. He said DFCS employee salaries are funded by the DFCS state personnel budget. ’We have funds that rolled over from previous years,’ Sanders said. ‘We don’t think we need to accept a budget from the county when we have enough money to get through the next fiscal year. The county can use that money for something else.’