Benton County approves multiple budget adjustments and authorizes remote meetings amid COVID‑19

The Benton County Commission approved a package of budget adjustments and an electronic‑participation resolution at a regularly scheduled meeting on April 20, 2020.

The commission adopted Resolution 20200420-01, authorizing electronic participation in county meetings under Executive Order No. 16 from Tennessee’s governor to protect public health during the COVID‑19 pandemic. The resolution was sponsored by County Mayor Brett Lashlee and entered into the minutes as the commission’s formal authorization for remote attendance.

In a series of roll‑call votes the commission also approved multiple appropriations and budget adjustments. Highlights include: appropriating $15,000 from the unassigned general fund balance to the county coroner’s account to pay four outstanding autopsy invoices and to purchase personal protective equipment for the medical examiner (Resolution 20200420-05); budgeting a $7,291.52 insurance recovery to sheriff vehicle repairs and equipment (Resolution 20200420-03); and appropriating $2,682.24 to pay a revenue‑recovery invoice from The Barrett Group related to hotel/motel tax underpayments (Resolution 20200420-07).

A separate appropriation of $2,000 from Fund 122 (Drug Control) was moved into the sheriff’s confidential drug enforcement account (Resolution 20200420-04), and the commission approved a $7,795 transfer from the general fund balance to cover shortfalls in several accounts including waste tire program utilities and contracted services (Resolution 20200420-08). Resolution 20200420-09 moved $1,000 from Debt Service Fund 151 to pay for continuing‑disclosure filing of audited financial statements for county bonds.

One contested vote concerned Resolution 20200420-06, which would allocate $5,000 from the unassigned general fund balance to pay deductibles for legal counsel provided through the county’s insurance trust on two pending lawsuits (listed in the resolution as wrongful arrest and lack of medical treatment). A motion to have the sheriff’s department pay that cost failed for lack of a second; the original motion to appropriate the $5,000 passed on a roll call vote recorded in the minutes as 14 Ayes and 1 Nay (the transcript does not assign the single Nay to a named commissioner).

County Mayor Brett Lashlee presented the budget measures; motions were made and seconded by sitting commissioners as recorded in the minutes. The commission approved the March 2020 minutes and the Report of Public Utilities earlier in the meeting.

The commission’s minutes indicate the coroner‑related purchase and autopsy payments will be reported on the county’s FEMA report and may be eligible for disaster reimbursement under applicable federal rules. The commission did not set specific next steps or implementation dates for the appropriations beyond entering the resolutions into the minutes.

Votes at a glance: Resolution numbers and recorded outcomes are as listed in the commission minutes. Where the minutes recorded “all present voted Aye,” the transcript did not specify individual roll‑call assignments; where the minutes recorded a tally it is reported exactly as written in the minutes.

This item closed with the commission moving on to other agenda business; there were no public commenters on these agenda items at the meeting.