By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette
During the regular meeting of the Guthrie County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 28, a public hearing was held regarding the proposed Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Budget Amendment No. 1.
County Auditor Dani Fink summarized the budget amendment data.
“In total, the total expenditures to be amended is $446,729. And with the offset of revenue, it would be General Basic taking a hit of $277,899,” Fink said.
Supervisor Brian Johnson asked how much the county has in General Basic Reserves and how this would impact that amount.
Fink said the General Basic Reserves would drop from $2.9 million to a projected $2.4 million.
The supervisors approved the budget amendment as presented.
Eric Reinhart, chair of the Guthrie County Compensation Board, reported on the board’s most recent meeting. He reported that the board reviewed the compensation requests from the county’s various departments and also looked at data on how Guthrie County pay compares to other similar counties.
“We had a good discussion,” Reinhart said. “The general consensus is, our population rank was 67th, but our pay is usually seven to 10 spots behind that, as far as county rank. So, when we looked at that, we came up with a number of 7% as our recommendation.”
Reinhart also pointed out that because other counties will also be implementing compensation increases, this would only be a first step in getting “caught up” pay-wise.
Board Chair Maggie Armstrong thanked Reinhart and the compensation board for their work and recommendation. No action was taken by the supervisors at this time.
As part of the county’s budgeting process, the supervisors heard proposed budgetary information from three departments (Auditor, Recorder and Treasurer).
The next meeting of the supervisors will be Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 9 a.m. The public is welcome to attend in person or via remote technology. To join remotely, call 323-792-6123, then use meeting code 547029216#.