County court, coroner’s office make fund requests
Published 9:16 am Friday, September 14, 2012
Officeholders needing additional money in their budgets to finish out the year came before the Lawrence County Commission at its Thursday meeting.
Lawrence Municipal Court Judge Donald Capper made a request for an additional $58,260 for salaries, much of which is because of the retirement of a 30-year employee. The extra money is needed for training for that person’s replacement and for an approximately $12,000 one-time payout for the retiree’s accumulated sick leave and vacation pay.
Capper noted that since 2007 the court, acknowledging the county’s earlier fiscal challenges, has reduced its submitted budget accordingly. In 2007 the court’s budget was $530,000. In 2012 the budget was cut to $399,000.
The judge also noted that the Chesapeake-based court hears approximately 1,000 more cases a year than the counterpart in Ironton.
“It is necessary money,” Capper said about the request.
Bill Nenni from the coroner’s office told the commission that the contract services fund that covers toxicology and autopsy costs needs an additional $10,000 for the rest of the year.
“The rest of our accounts are in pretty good shape,” he said.
The commission did not make any motions on the requests at the time.
In other action the commissioners:
• Approved a donation of $1,500 to the upcoming fire school to provide continuing education training for county firefighters;
• Approved a landslide repair contract with BBR Drilling for $535,106;
• Approved demolition agreements for one site in Chesapeake and three in South Point;
• Referred a petition to vacate Township Road 1436 in Union Township to the county engineer.