Fiscal Court approves most budget transfers, postpones $20,000 road-engineer pay and omits workers’ comp, temp-staff bills

At a Clark County Fiscal Court meeting, magistrates voted to approve most budget transfer requests but postponed discussion of a $20,000 transfer earmarked for a road engineer’s salary and voted to withhold payment of a workers’ compensation invoice and a temporary-staffing invoice pending review.

Why it matters: The transfers and bills affect the county’s general fund cash flow and payroll lines. Court members said rising workers’ compensation costs and personnel questions made some transfers and invoices appropriate to hold until they could be reconciled with available revenue and personnel records.

The court opened with a motion to approve the minutes for Jan. 23, 2025, then took up two budget-transfer items labeled 6(a) and 6(b). A motion to transfer funds was seconded and discussed. One magistrate objected to restoring funds to a road-engineer salary line, saying the court had earlier agreed to reduce that line during budget adoption. After discussion, a motion was amended to approve the transfers except for the $20,000 for the road-engineer salary; the court agreed to address that $20,000 in a closed-session personnel discussion. The amended motion also directed a $10,000 transfer from contingent appropriations to machinery repair for road equipment. The amended motion carried.

Treasurer Mary Hasselmore answered questions about year-to-date appropriations and noted that a payroll audit and higher workers’ compensation rates affected the fiscal picture. In discussion, a court member said the workers’ compensation rate surprise after budget adoption increased the county’s projected costs by about $125,000 and left little cushion in general-fund line items.

On the bills list, a magistrate moved that the court pay the bills but omit (1) the workers’ compensation fund invoice and (2) an invoice from Adecco Employment Services for temporary road staff. That motion was seconded. Several members argued Adecco charges resulted from emergency staffing during severe weather and that the county had not exhausted hiring steps; other members said invoices and prior hiring decisions warranted more review. The court voted to approve the bills list with the two items omitted. The motion carried.

The court later voted to table a separate $45,000 transfer for workers’ compensation pending further review and reconciliation with current appropriations and revenue projections. The item will return for discussion at a later meeting after staff review.

What the court did not decide: The $20,000 proposed transfer for the road-engineer salary was explicitly removed from the approved transfers and will be revisited in a closed-session personnel discussion; no additional personnel decisions were made in open session.

Next steps: Staff were directed to provide updated appropriation and cash-flow information before the next public meeting; the court scheduled the $20,000 personnel discussion for closed session.

Votes at a glance: The court carried the amended budget-transfer motion (approving transfers except the $20,000 road-engineer salary and authorizing a $10,000 contingent transfer for machinery repair). The court approved the bills list with the workers’ comp and Adecco invoices omitted. A separate workers’ compensation transfer was tabled for further staff review.

Sources and attribution: Remarks and motions by members of the Clark County Fiscal Court and responses from Treasurer Mary Hasselmore during the county meeting.