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Benton County Commission approves FEMA BRIC match, budget amendments and appointments
Summary
At the Jan. 19 meeting the commission committed $200,000 local match for a FEMA BRIC Cane Creek project, approved routine budget amendments for the animal shelter, sheriff's office and schools, and made several appointments and reserve-funded purchases.
The Benton County Commission approved a package of resolutions and budget amendments on Jan. 19, 2021, including a commitment to provide a $200,000 local match for a proposed FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) project for Cane Creek and several routine appropriations and appointments.
Key outcomes:
- Resolution 20210119-05 (passed unanimously): Benton County agreed to be a co-sponsor of a BRIC grant application for improvements to Cane Creek from Natchez Trace Road to South Forrest Avenue, committing $200,000 as the county local match if the grant is awarded. The estimated total project cost was listed as $1,400,000; the West Tennessee River Basin Authority (WTRBA) approved $500,000 to be applied toward matches across projects and pledged $147,000 toward Benton County's portion.
- Resolution 20210119-09 (passed): The Animal Shelter budget was amended to recognize $7,777.06 in revenues and increase veterinary services expenditures by the same amount.
- Resolution 20210119-10 (passed): The Sheriff's Office recognized $8,401.91 in receipts for Oct.–Dec. 2020 and appropriated those funds to vehicle maintenance, towing, insurance recovery and related lines.
- Resolutions 20210119-11 and 20210119-12 (passed): The Board of Education's Remote Tech Grant of $103,151.42 was accepted and $100,000 was transferred from school fund balance to 'Other Student Support' to meet necessary expenditures.
- Resolution 20210119-13 (passed): The commission appropriated $18,350 from the unassigned fund balance to retain two positions funded by a grant (a custodian and a maintenance floater) for the remainder of the fiscal year.
- Other appropriations and actions (passed): $20,000 for archives preservation (Res. 14); $1,200 for a chancery court laptop (Res. 15); $5,000 for election worker expenses (Res. 16); $2,400 to cover Verizon Jet Pack monthly charges (Res. 17); $300 from the Courtroom Security reserve for door locks (Res. 18); re-appointment of James Fisette and appointment of Steve Downs to the Airport Board (Res. 08); acceptance of unclaimed funds procedures (Res. 06); and a resolution urging audit authority for mineral severance tax collections to the General Assembly (Res. 07). Notary appointments for January were approved and a brief IT announcement closed the meeting.
Why it matters: The BRIC commitment enables the county to pursue federal mitigation funding for stream realignment, bridge replacement and bank stabilization that the county and City of Camden say would benefit properties and infrastructure along the Cane Creek corridor. The budget amendments provide immediate funding for operations across sheriff, schools, animal shelter and county services.
Next steps: The BRIC project will proceed only if FEMA awards the grant; no county funds are required until the grant approval triggers the local match commitment. Approved appropriations will be administered by the responsible county departments.
