Commissioners finalize budget draft, set publication schedule and agree follow‑up review

Bourbon County commissioners spent extended time reviewing departmental budgets and revised a proposed general‑fund budget before agreeing to send the draft for publication and schedule a public hearing.

Commissioners and staff worked page by page through the budget committee’s proposal, comparing the Budget Advisory Committee’s figures with draft alternatives. Discussion focused on employee wages, line‑item commodities, dispatch/911 funding, the county jail and sales‑tax funds designated for courthouse and detention facilities, and whether one‑time items should be paid from carryovers or taxed in the coming year.

Key changes identified during the session included: leaving some department budgets at the prior year’s funding if reductions were previously approved by the commission, restoring limited increases for public‑safety budgets where actual payroll data showed higher current costs, and holding certain capital accounts while suggesting transfers from sales‑tax or other designated funds where legally permitted.

The commissioners authorized sending the revised figures to the county clerk’s office so the county’s publication packet can be prepared. They agreed on a publication schedule (the clerk will submit materials for the Wednesday newspaper edition) and to hold a public hearing on the budget in mid‑September, while noting the final approved budget must still be adopted by the statutory deadline and that adjustments that lower the published figures can be made before final adoption.

Commissioners and staff emphasized the draft is intended to be conservative on expenditures, to build cash reserves, and to avoid sudden mill‑levy increases. Staff said they will forward the packet to the clerk and to the county’s publisher and will circulate the compiled worksheet to commissioners for a short follow‑up special meeting if the printed packet needs correction before publication.