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Baldwin County Probate Judge Tim Russell swears in businessman Chris Elliott as a Baldwin County commissioner. Commission Chairman Skip Gruber holds the Bible as Elliott takes the oath of office. (Thyrie Bland | tbland@al.com)
ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — Chris Elliott started work Friday as a Baldwin County commissioner, participating in talks about a roughly $7 million budget shortfall for fiscal year 2015 and a cost of living adjustment for county employees.
Elliott had not planned to get to work this soon after beating Bob James in a runoff election Tuesday for the Baldwin County Commission District 2 seat. James, who was elected to the seat in 2010, resigned from the post Thursday morning.
James' term in office ran through November. Gov Robert Bentley appointed Elliott on Friday morning to finish James' term in the District 2 office.
The county received word of the governor's decision while Elliott was attending his first county commission budget meeting. Elliott was sworn into office by Probate Judge Tim Russell during a break in the meeting.
The commission will have meetings over the next several weeks to craft its fiscal year 2015 budget. James was supposed to chair the meetings.
"I will tell you right now I appreciate the governor acting so quickly and his confidence in me filling this seat as quickly as he did," Elliott said. "I appreciate him honoring the commission's request to go ahead and get the seat filled so we can have some continuity here and continue moving."
When the commission started the meeting, it was trying to figure out how to come up with the roughly $7 million to cover about a $3 million shortfall in the general fund and about a $4 million shortfall in the Highway Department's budget.
Of the $7 million, $3.5 million is matching funds the county needs to put toward a $20 million Federal Emergency Management grant. The grant money will be used to pay for repairs to roads that were damaged this year as a result of flooding.
By the end of the meeting, the commission had reduced the amount of money it was trying to come up with to about $3.5 million.
Among the ways county officials reduced the $7 million shortfall was by deciding not to fund more than $1 million in planned projects, which include some drainage work, dredging and repairs to a bridge.
The other way was by earmarking more than $2 million in projected Highway Department revenues for fiscal year 2015 to be put toward the shortfall.
Commissioner Frank Burt Jr. said coming up with the grant matching funds to repair the roads that were damaged was the county's most pressing issue.
"So that's the No. 1 thing it seems to me for all the citizens," he said. "It's 20 million worth of highway work that absolutely needs to be done for safety sake."
Budget concerns was reason that Burt balked when the subject of giving all county employees a one-time 1 percent cost of living adjustment was discussed.
"I can't commit to it," he said. "I have to see what we are going wind up with at the end of the budget."
Commissioner Tucker Dorsey stressed that the commission only was discussing the possibility of a cost of living adjustment and was not committing to doing it.
"This is the message so far: The goal is we are working toward a 1 percent (cost of living adjustment)," he said. "It is not done yet. We have $3 million left to shave. We have got a lot of work in highway that we are going to have to do."
The cost of living adjustment came up after Sheriff Huey "Hoss" Mack asked for a 2 percent cost of living adjustment for his workers. Mack said he is concerned about his agency being able to remain competitive with the pay of other law enforcement agencies.
"What we saw this past year was some of the municipalities giving (cost of living adjustments) so now we are seeing our competitiveness coming down in three areas," Mack said. "The primary is corrections, the secondary is deputies, and the third is nurses."
After the discussion turned toward a cost of living adjustment for all county employees, Mack said he was willing to make some changes to his budget, such as reducing the number of vehicles he wanted to buy.
Probate Judge Tim Russell said he was willing to withdraw his request for funds for a position if the commission gives county employees a cost of living adjustment.
Elliott said he thought the commission was headed in the right direction after hearing the discussion about the one-time cost of living adjustment.
"We will see where we are with other departments and take this into account in the big picture," he said. "It's a goal I want to work toward, though."