Letcher County Fiscal Court approves $1.8 million budget amendment, OKs year‑end transfers and bill payments

Letcher County Fiscal Court approved an ordinance amending the fiscal year 2024‑25 budget and a long list of year‑end interfund transfers during a June 25 special call meeting.

The court voted by voice to amend the budget to increase receipts and appropriations by $1,807,007.74. County staff read the amendment into the record, listing $313,882.97 from franchise tax receipts, $220,000 in federal jail grant funds (identified in the record as an ARPA transfer), $7,349.84 in county clerk storage fees, $999,000 in LGEA/LGED grants, and $267,542 in buyout federal grant receipts among the additions. The amendment identifies matching appropriations for reserve transfers across affected funds.

“The ARPA’s not totally gone because we’re still paying some parts and stuff out. I think we’ve got 200 and somewhere around 280,000 left,” a staff member said while explaining grant balances. The staff member read the amendment and answered clarifying questions before the motion.

After the budget amendment, court staff read a detailed series of interfund transfers that the record shows move funds into line items including the county judge’s salary, administrative assistants, secretary and clerk lines, judges’ training expense, county attorney support, election expense, office supplies, sanitation operations, flood contract and construction, materials and supplies, equipment repairs, cleaning supplies, pharmaceuticals and recreation center accounts. The court made a motion to approve the transfers and approved them by voice vote.

During consideration of the bill docket, a court member noted the Fletcher Volunteer Fire Department appears on the list for a $6,000 mutual aid contract payment. The member said the department supplied requested paperwork and is again in good standing with the State Fire Commission: “They brought me all their paperwork, and they are, in good standing with the State Fire Commission again. They brought me everything I asked for,” the court member said.

All formal motions taken on the budget amendment, the transfers, and the bill docket were approved by voice vote with affirmative responses from members present. The court adjourned at the conclusion of the business.

What the record shows and what it does not: county staff read line‑by‑line dollar amounts and object codes into the record for the amendment and transfers; the meeting transcript records those line items but does not include a roll‑call, numeric roll tally, or an itemized roll‑call vote for each motion. The transcript identifies amounts and object codes as read into the record; the article does not infer any changes that were not read aloud by staff.