The Jefferson County Commission sent a resolution to the agenda of Thursday’s meeting that, if passed, would approve a total operating and capital budget of $997,488,475.

That total includes $282,720,655 in the general fund.

“Today wasn’t as bad as most of them have been in the past,” Finance Committee Chairman Joe Knight said.

The proposed budget included $2 million in Simplified Sellers Use Tax, which is allotted from online business. That money was earmarked for things the county annually funds.

Knight noted that the Magic City Classic tops the list with a $400,000 allocation.

“We always had to fight over the Classic,” he said. “We solved that by saying every year we support the Classic. You get this every year. When you start adding to this list, you get into the danger zone because everybody wants money and everybody wants to be on this list so they don’t have to apply for any funds each year.”

Commissioner Sheila Tyson looked at the 21-item list and didn’t see money she sought for the Center for Negro League Baseball Research.

“I don’t see the one I had on here,” she said. “Everybody has something on there except for District 2. I ain’t asking for anything out of the ordinary. This is not for the district; it’s for the county.”

A year ago, a number of projects were funded from a contingency fund that was carved out of the budget. But Knight said the upcoming budget has no contingency fund.

Knight said there was $1,955,486 in the SSUT fund. He suggested that the difference between that and $2 million – $44,514 – be allocated to the league. Commission President Jimmie Stephens made that motion and it passed.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to compromise,” Knight said.

The proposed budget includes $700,000 of discretionary funds for each commissioner, which is an increase from the past two years. Knight said nonprofits are hurting and are turning to the county for help.

“That’s not why we’re here,” he said. “We’ll help in a way that we can, but our primary purpose is to provide services for the citizens of Jefferson County. I think we’re doing pretty good considering where we’ve been.”

Commissioners applauded their efforts to perform a number of capital projects without incurring more debt.

“We pay for them without going into the bond market,” Knight said. “We’ve had to do that when we refinanced the 1-cent sales tax. We still owe on that. We did it with the sewers. We still owe on that.”

The finance committee chair said the county still owes “a little bit” on bonds sold to finance the construction of Protective Stadium and for county roads.

“The main thing is we’re trying to fund building a new youth detention facility and putting a big chunk of money on it and some other road projects,” County Manager Cal Markert said, “and we’re not having to borrow money.

“We finished the (new) coroner’s office,” he continued. “We should finish the animal care and control facility by, I think, December, January. Both of those are funded, pay as you go, no bond, no borrowing. Now we’re going to start the youth detention. We’re just having to pinch pennies to make it happen, but we’re hopefully getting it done.”