On a 3-0-2 vote, the Jefferson County Commission sent the 2024-25 budget to the agenda of Thursday’s commission meeting. Included in that budget is one variable off day for each county employee.

Finance Committee Chairman Joe Knight, along with commissioners Lashunda Scales and Sheila Tyson, voted in favor of sending the budget to the agenda. Commission President Jimmie Stephens and Commissioner Mike Bolin abstained.

As presented, the fiscal 2024-2025 budget is $999,386,253, down from the 2023-2024 budget of $1,003,221,927. The general fund in the upcoming budget accounts for $266,593,758.

Stephens asked about the holiday schedule of fiscal 2024-2025 and he was told it was unchanged. Knight then presented the idea of adding the variable day, which would be the second variable off day for workers.

County employees in the room were audibly pleased.

“We don’t object to that,” Chief Finance Officer Angela Dixon said as laughter erupted, “unless the president does.”

Stephens expressed concern about the cost to the county for that variable day. The Finance Department reported the cost of a variable day in fiscal 2023 was $612,777.

Knight said the variable day is not measured in budget dollars, though he acknowledged that the county is not getting productivity from an employee when he takes his variable day off.

“We even looked at making it an extra holiday but if you make it a holiday, that is a budgetary issue,” he said. “Somebody wants to take off for his birthday. Somebody’s mamma’s gotta be in the hospital. It’s just a little something that we’d like to give back to the employees. We’ve got good employees. We want to keep them; we’re doing really good with the county.”

Knight said the variable day was something he thought would benefit employees and let them know they are appreciated.

“Recruitment and retention in workforce is a big problem everywhere,” the Finance Committee chairman said. “We would love to give them more of a COLA (cost-of-living adjustment). COLA is limited by your factors such as: What’s the economy gonna do? How much can you budget? A 3% COLA is a $6.5 million increase to the general fund budget.”

Already, the general fund budget was increased $3.8 million, Knight said, to give the Sheriff’s Department a raise to retain deputies.

“Any time you do that, your next year’s budget is increased by that much,” he said. “I’m mindful of that.”

The commission president admitted that his stance on the variable day was not very popular in a room of county employees.

“That’s not my job to be popular,” he said. “My job is to represent the citizens of Jefferson County. A variable day will cost Jefferson County between $600,000 and $1 million. Your labor has to be part of your budget. If you give them an extra day, that costs money.

“That is what it is. I’ll stand by what I said,” Stephens continued. “I think those dollars should be to improve the quality of life for the citizens of Jefferson County.”

Cameras for Law Enforcement

Stephens did express interest in purchasing cameras to aid law enforcement in the county.

Stephens said the cameras “would have been a force multiplier where they would help put eyes where they would be able to monitor the criminal activity and make it hard for criminals to do business, which is their job. They’re gonna do their job. We don’t want them to do it in Jefferson County.”

Knight said every commissioner has community grant funds that can be used to purchase cameras as needed. The budget includes $3.5 million for community grants with each commissioner getting access to $700,000.

“Are cameras a good idea? Heck yeah,” Knight said. “I know we’ve got crime, I know we’ve got hot spots and I know we should do everything to (combat) that.”

Dixon said highlights of the budget include:

• $10 million for economic development
• $2 million for tornado shelters
• $2 million for paving
• $1.9 million for commission support
• $1.7 million in district funds.
• $1.1 million for a Family Court imaging project
• $500,000 to implement a sewer assistance program
• $500,000 for a litter pickup program
• A 3% cost of living adjustment (COLA) for employees
• $995,000 district attorney’s office for pay increases to attract and retain staff
• $450,000 for enhanced permitting software
• Funding for the completion of the coroner’s building
• Funding for completion of the animal shelter
• Vehicle replacement throughout the county
• Multiple sewer projects

Multiple road projects