shirleyNANNEY
Editor
The Town of Huntingdon’s Finance Committee got down to business Feb. 15 as they viewed and discussed the mid-year budget. But before the meeting ended, the discussion turned to the police officers’ low pay issue. The veering away from the review started when Police Chief Walter Smothers walked into the meeting about mid-way through the discussion.
Council member Charles Hodges, chairman of the committee, said in going over the budget up to Dec. 31 of last year that all the figures looked good.
“It’s good to sit down and go through the budget, which gives council members the opportunity to answer questions from the public.” said Hodges.
Mayor Nina Smothers and the department heads had previously reviewed their specific department’s portion of the budget.
During the budget discussion, Town Recorder Kim Carter summarized each portion of the budget with remarks relative to expected expenditures to complete the budget year. The overall budget is at approximately 50% with plans to meet budget at year end. Each department is beginning the process of building the 2024 budget to define a five year plan for departmental needs. Physical structures, personnel policy review, equipment, salary and software needs will be emphasized in the 2024 budget, she said.
Six police vehicles are on order for the Police Department at a cost of $226,944. The police chief has applied for a $53,000 grant. Nine trucks for the Parks, Utility, and Street Departments have also been ordered. The dealership expects to receive police vehicles in May or June. The trucks do not have a build date presently. A Pierce Freightliner Pumper truck has been ordered for the Fire Department that has a price tag of $795,000
The new water meters are being installed over a period of time. The new meters will relay usage to the device automatically. The Police Department is in the installation process of a new ticketing upgrade system which will assist personnel by not having to manually key/process citations.
This week, the Police department will receive the $800 salary supplement provided by the State of Tennessee for completion of all in-services.
During March, the Town will be accepting and considering proposals for solid waste collection and disposal which will change to an automated side load pick up.
The goal is for the Town Council to conduct the budget workshop the first week of May in order to finalize the process by the end of June. As it stands down the expenditures used are 43 percent of the budgeted use.
Vice Mayor John Sanders said their is an urgency in getting the police vehicles.
“We need cars badly,” said Sanders. “We need to update these cars.”
He added that it concerns him when he goes to the schools where there are SRO officers and no police marked cars are sitting in front of the schools.
Council member Kelly Eubanks that she has a deep concern about our police because they need body cameras.
“We can’t wait until July to give raises,” she said.”We need to look into how we can make things happen.”
She brought up the fact that some police raises may have taken place behind closed doors.
Hodges said he had not knowledge of such a thing happening.
He admitted that equipment and departments may have been neglected because of the Carroll County 1,000 Acre Recreational Lake.
Hodges said hourly wages in comparison with other police departments may have been misleading because benefits were not included.
“It’s difficult to do apples to apples in comparison,” said Mayor Nina Smothers.
The police chief said there is a real need to get young people in law enforcement.
“All Young people look at is the pay each week, they don’t think about retirement,” said Smothers. “Young officers think about what they bring home. Other departments get to the patrol cars home with them, but Huntingdon doesn’t.”
The mayor said the town might look at referral bonuses where an officer gets a bonus for bringing in another officer for a job. She said there is a need for some of these benefits to be added.
Sanders pointed out that Huntingdon is losing its officers.
“The town sent a guy to the Training Academy (paid his way) and then he came back, now he’s gone,” he said.
Council member Lori Nolen suggested that the police chief get information to council members that needs attention and it be discussed.
“I can’t go out in public and in good conscious recommend to a young person to get into law enforcement,” said the police chief.
Concerning the fire department, an inspector is coming back to check the stations again because the last inspection information was lost.
There could be a problem with Station 3 because there is mold there, according to Smothers.
Smothers, who is the town’s Public Safety officer, oversees both the police and fire departments.
