LINDEN — The Marengo County Commission approved the budget for Fiscal Year 2011 at its meeting on Tuesday.
The $4.115-million budget calls for $1 million in expenditures for the sheriff’s office, $931,888 for the county commission and $704,022 for the jail. Of the county commission’s expenditures, $700,000 is due to debt service.
“The budget, as we all know, was very, very challenging — very difficult — this year,” said commissioner Dr. Ken Tucker. “We started off a quarter of a million dollars in the hole, but we are able to balance it. The down side is that we were not able to give raises. We had to make some slight cuts in different departments, but we tried to be fair and uniform with it.
“We had to dip into our reserves — pretty severely, actually — but on the pro side, unlike other counties around us, we did not have to terminate anybody, we did not have to lay off anybody, we didn’t have to cut anybody’s salary, we didn’t have to cut any essential services, and we did balance the budget without going out and borrowing the money.”
The board heard as county engineer Ken Atkins opened bids for county work for Fiscal Year 2011. Those bids dealt with gasoline, piping, rock and stone, asphalt and other road needs. The low bids will be made known later this week.
The commission contracted the county’s Department of Youth Services through the department in Selma, rather than in Tuscaloosa.
The commission approved the tobacco tax and Emergency Management Agency certificate of deposit rate of 1.9 percent for 182 days at Sweet Water State Bank and continued its Alabama Tombigbee Regional Commission grant procedure and agreement.
The next scheduled meeting of the Marengo County Commission will be on Tuesday, Oct. 12, at 9 a.m. in the commission chambers on the lower level of the Marengo County Courthouse.