Overtime or

compensatory time? That is one question on Fayette County

commissioners' minds as they ponder a proposed $48.6

million budget for fiscal year 2000.

"We do

not have a consistent policy," county administrator

Billy Beckett told the board as they wrestled with

requests for additional personnel in the human resources

portion of the budget during a work session Monday.

Department

heads are asking for 52 new employees, but some of those

positions are part time. The "full-time

equivalent" number of requested positions is 45.5.

Beckett's recommendation to the commission is to approve

29 new jobs, or 23.4 full-time equivalent positions.

Full-time

equivalent positions approved in last year's budget were

556.02.

But with

turnover and seasonal work loads workers sometimes have

to put in extra hours, and federal laws require that the

county have a consistent policy by which workers can

negotiate for overtime pay or more time off, said

Beckett.

Many

workers currently take comp time, he said, but that works

a hardship in areas like the county's E911 dispatch

center, where workers have to work so many holidays that

they quickly accumulate more comp time than they can ever

expect to take.

E911

director Cheryl Rogers asked for money in her budget

request to give her workers their accumulated overtime,

but commissioners balked at that. "Don't do this

unless we have a policy," said Commissioner Greg

Dunn.

The group

tentatively approved the budget request, reserving the

right to consider the actual payment later. Meanwhile,

Beckett promised to develop a policy as soon as possible.

"We have got to get this issue resolved," he

said.

During a

three-hour work session, commissioners tentatively

approved budget requests for administration, finance,

human resources, purchasing and contingency funds,

setting the contingency at $494,474.

Also

tentatively approved were budges for the Georgia Forestry

Commission, building and grounds maintenance, and ten

special revenue funds. Among the special funds were fire

services - $4.95 million - and E911 -

$1.51 million.

A $475,020

budget for the county library raised some eyebrows when

it was discovered the facility's budget comes mostly from

the special purpose local option sales tax that built it.

Approximately

$2.4 million not spent in construction still is being

used to fund the library, including interest payments of

about $72,500 received on the money. But what happens

when the SPLOST money runs out?

The county

will have to fund the library with tax funds, Beckett

informed the group, adding that this is nothing new.

Additional facilities always increase the size of the

county budget for staffing and maintaining the buildings,

he said.

"The

library added a significant amount of cost to the county,

as did the E911 Center," he said. As for the $2.4

million, "Once it's gone, the county has to fund

it," he said.

Commissioners

put off a decision on whether to fund radios for

commissioners. Board members currently are provided cell

phones that double as pagers and triple as walkie

talkies.

Commissioners

Greg Dunn, Linda Wells and Harold Bost said the radios

aren't necessary and indicated a desire to cut them from

the budget, but Commissioner Glen Gosa objected. The cell

phones don't have enough range to keep him in touch when

he is out of town, he said. "You can't use it past

Brooks."

There was

some confusion about how much it costs to include the

radio function. Commissioners voted 3-1 with Commissioner

Herb Frady abstaining to tentatively approve the

commission's $455,004 budget, minus $4,000 for the

radios, but promised to readdress the question after more

information is provided.

The next

work session will be at 4 p.m. Thursday, prior to the

commission's regular business meeting at 7 p.m. All

commission meetings are open to the public.

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