Fayette

County commissioners will get down to the more

serious issues in the proposed 2001 budget in a

work session June 19.

After

breezing through 34 sections of the

three-inch-thick budget document in a session

last week, commissioners decided to cancel

today's previously scheduled session and take on

the remaining sections Monday.

Starting

at 9 a.m., commissioners will deal with budgets

for the Sheriff's Department, fire services, the

marshall's office, E-911, roads, buildings and

grounds, the water system and solid waste.

The

group also will deal with requests for additional

personnel from all the departments as a issue

separate from the departments' operating budgets.

The proposed budget includes departmental

requests for 44 more people. County Manager Billy

Beckett is recommending 29. The county now has

about 580 authorized positions.

During

last week's meeting, the only slow-down came as

commissioners questioned a $25,000 budget for

Fayette Clean and Beautiful.

Marie

Short, recently appointed director of the

program, said the county support is needed, but

she also is going to be working hard to find

other sources of funding.

"We

have a lot of opportunity to grow this program

into a much more powerful community

program," Short told commissioners.

In

budget discussions in previous years,

commissioners have asked the group to solicit

funding from local cities to increase its scope,

rather than looking to the county to increase

that funding. The cities have not agreed to do

that, but Short said there are plenty of other

sources.

"The

money is out there," she said, explaining

that many corporate sponsors provide money for

community recycling and clean-up programs. She

also promised to give the county quarterly

reports of the organization's activities.

Commissioners

responded to a request for an increase in the

compensation of members of the county Board of

Elections by giving less than half what the group

had asked for.

Board

members had asked for an increase from $9.40 an

hour, which averages around $600 a year for the

members, to a flat $350 a month. Commissioners

agreed to pay the board members $100 a month and

pay for any required training.

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