Chickasaw County reviews fiscal‑year results and weighs adding clerk hours in auditor's office

At its July 13 meeting, the Chickasaw County Board of Supervisors reviewed fiscal‑year 25‑26 results and discussed staffing in the auditor’s office to handle claims, payroll and election workload.

Sheila Shekleton, county board secretary and auditor’s office lead, presented a financial summary showing the county’s general basic and supplemental expenditure giveback of $878,569 and revenues that exceeded budget expectations by about $507,061. "If you look over to the right... we had $878,569, which was a couple 100,000 above expectation," she told the board, and later noted interest and other revenue sources contributed to the surplus.

Sheila and supervisors discussed a pending statutory requirement cited in the meeting to reduce general fund ending balances to 35% by a date under discussion; staff said more research is needed to determine whether the deadline applies to fiscal '27 or '28 and how transfers to restricted funds would be affected. ‘‘If indeed we have to get that general basic down to a 35% ending fund balance... we have to drop it down to a 35,’’ the Chair said while asking staff to investigate next steps.

Sheila requested authority to add staff hours or hire a part‑time clerk to handle claims and payroll and to provide redundancy during busy periods such as elections. Board members discussed alternatives including increasing a current clerk from 35 to 40 hours, sharing data‑entry duties with a business manager, or temporarily reassigning clerks during peak workload; the board deferred formal action pending HR review and further discussion with department heads.

Supervisors thanked department heads for returning unused budget funds and noted interest income and investment management by the treasurer had contributed materially to the fiscal results. The board directed staff to continue evaluating options and to bring HR guidance back to a future meeting.