Justices on the Craighead County Quorum Court continue to deliberate about the 2016 budget, and are expected to wrap up the discussion next week. Justices have met twice over the past couple of weeks to hammer out a budget, which would fund all of the departments in the county. The budget total is just under 16-million dollars, which includes almost two-million dollars in carryover money from previous years. Budget Chairman Ken Stacks led an hour-long debate over the budget last night, which covered numerous topics from inmate healthcare to housing state inmates in the county jail. Stacks gave an update on the budget to the full Quorum Court last night, which he says could include a raise for all county employees.
“We have approved the budget from every department. We have recommended a 3% across-the-board increase to all employees. The only thing that is lacking are specific employees within specific departments for potential raises; however, those will be on a case-by-case basis and will be looked at closely.”
The budget committee is expected to finalize the county budget during a meeting Tuesday afternoon at four p.m.
