St. Francois County commissioners approve senior center distribution, authorize provisional budget amendment

St. Francois County commissioners voted to approve a distribution of recently received funds for senior centers and agreed, provisionally, to amend the budget if the distributions push related line items over the original appropriation.

Commissioner 2 moved to add the senior-center distribution to the agenda and later moved to accept the distribution; Commissioner 3 seconded both motions. Commissioner 2 said the county “always keep[s] 50,000 back for emergencies,” and that the remainder would be allocated by percentage of request.

The commissioners discussed whether the distribution would take the department over its budgeted amount for the year. Commissioner 4 urged caution and recommended approving a budget amendment “just in case.” Commissioner 7 proposed language to amend the budget if the distribution caused an overage; that motion was made and seconded, and commissioners approved the provisional budget amendment along with the distribution.

The meeting record shows the distribution approval was taken by voice vote (“All in favor, aye”), and no roll-call tally was provided at the meeting. County staff said the distribution allocation was calculated by percentage of requests; the precise dollar figure for the distributable remainder reported verbally during the meeting was unclear in the transcript. Commissioners reiterated that a $50,000 reserve is retained for emergencies and that the remaining funds were allocated per the distribution spreadsheet presented to the board.

County staff did not announce a specific payment schedule during the discussion. Commissioners did not identify any entities that would be denied funding; the allocation list was described as reflecting percentages of requests.

The commission returned to its regular agenda after approving the distribution and the provisional budget amendment.