Stan Peavy III
County to make counteroffer
by By Cherry Young
(Posted 9/11/2009 02:45 pm)
The Young County subcourthouse in Olney will likely stay right where it is.
During a regular meeting of the Young County commissioners Tuesday, there was much discussion concerning the county offices in Olney which have been leased by the city of Olney to Young County for the last 15 years at a cost of a one-time fee of $35,000.
With the initial lease expiring, Olney offered a lease that called for $25,000 up front to make repairs on the building and payments of $2,000 a month.
County Judge Stan Peavy III opened the discussion, saying he had looked at options for purchasing another building in Olney for the county’s use. Some he looked at were the old Dollar General building and the building formerly inhabited by Duckwalls. Peavy said purchasing and remodeling a building to suit the county’s purpose would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“With a little bit of money, we could make a better building than what we’ve got. It’s been a good deal, but if they’re going to charge us a lot of money to be there, we should consider a space that would better suit our needs,” he said.
Precinct 1 Commissioner John Hawkins said that with the exception of the Precinct 3 justice of the peace office, the other offices in Olney — tax assessor/collector, adult probation, juvenile probation and DPS — are discretionary.
“We’re looking at $121,000 for five years rent. The price is astronomical,” he said.
With Precinct 2 Commissioner John C. Bullock’s question of what the volume of business there is for the county in Olney, Tax Assessor/Collector Nancy Thomas produced records indicating that for the last seven months the Olney office has averaged 25 registrations a day while serving the Olney area for 12 hours a week. Thomas said her office has brought in $22,063 a month or approximately 8 percent of the county’s overall collections in the Olney office.
With the lease expiring at the end of the year, Peavy said the commissioners needed to take action now to insure funds were available.
The commissioners voted to allot an additional $25,000 in the county’s contingency budget to cover the rent on the current location, raising the tax rate an additional third of a cent.
Despite the vote, commissioners said they hope to further negotiate the terms of the city of Olney’s lease to lower the cost.
“We should go over and talk to the guys. I think there’s some common ground somewhere,” said Precinct 4 Commissioner Jimmy Wiley. “Anytime you have a vacant building, it deteriorates.”
Peavy said he is 99 percent positive the county will keep a tax assessor/collector office in Olney, but if the county is unable to come to agreeable terms with the city, temporary arrangements can be made until a more permanent solution is found.
“If they kick us out, we can find digs for the J.P. If need be, we can use a building short-term in Newcastle,” said Peavy.
Commissioners decided to offer the City of Olney $25,000 for five years with the city covering the insurance and maintenance on the property.
During the meeting, commissioners also hosted the second public hearing concerning the proposed tax rate. Chuck Parker said he would like the county to provide funds to hire five additional sheriff’s deputies. He said as evidenced by the police shooting last weekend, deputies have a dangerous job and more manpower is needed to police the drug-infested county.
“What we’re asking for is to get one killed. It’ll be ya’lls fault ... (You) should cut something here and get the sheriff some help. I don’t believe you’re living up to your responsibility as elected officials,” said Parker.
Chief Deputy Carl Magee was asked if he believed the sheriff’s office had enough staff, and he said the department is currently at full staff for what is authorized. He said more people would be helpful, but the bigger issue is pay versus personnel.
“You want to keep the people we have ... It costs a lot of money to replace and retrain deputies, and it puts a strain on the department when we lose a deputy,” said Magee.
Peavy asked the court if they would like to reconsider pay raises for sheriff’s department employees — even as little as $300 to $400 a year per person.
Bullock said he was not interested in that when others are out of jobs or taking salary cuts.
No action was taken on the matter.
