Fayette County

commissioners will revisit a few issues before voting Thursday night on

a proposed $65.45 million budget.

A called meeting

is set for 5 p.m., with the regular meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. at the

County Administrative Complex.

Commissioners

reportedly will revisit their decision to no longer provide $25,000 in

support to the Keep Fayette Beautiful organization, and will again discuss

proposed salary increases for the Board of Elections. A $31,000 addition

to cover the upcoming special election runoff also will be on the table.

The county's

governing board last week conducted 13 hours of workshop meetings, whittling

away a little here and adding a little there, with the result of increasing

the staff's proposed budget by almost $200,000.

The decision

to end support for KFB came in a 2-1 vote with Commissioner Herb Frady

absent. The board currently is operating with only four members, with

a special election runoff to replace Harold Bost, who resigned last week,

scheduled for July 10.

Three votes

out of the current four members would be required to restore the organization's

budget.

The decision

to drop it brought a sharp rebuke from Keep Fayette Beautiful volunteer

Ginger Blackstone.

"I'm stunned,"

she told commissioners last week. "I really feel like I've been slapped

in the face."

Also during

budget workshops, commissioners discussed whether the members of the Board

of Elections qualify as registrars. If they do, they're entitled to raises

under a new state law. Most counties have only one registrar, commissioners

said.

At Thursday's

meeting, they'll have legal advice to help make that decision.

Some high points

of the proposed budget include:

A $3.9 million

balloon payment in addition to the regular $700,000 annual payment to

pay off the mortgage on the Administrative Complex.

With interest

rates on the county's surplus funds running low, it has become profitable

to take the money out of investments and pay off the debt on the County

Administrative Complex, said finance director Mark Pullium.

County government

purchased the failed Stonewall Village office complex in December 1990

for just under $7 million, and spent about a million dollars to renovate

the facility to use as county offices.

"By paying

off Stonewall, we can save $600,000 interest," said Pullium. Commissioners

said they also are pleased about no longer having to make the $700,000

annual payments. Money is available because revenues were slightly higher

and expenditures slightly lower than the 2001 budget anticipated, said

Pullium.

A new $2 million

capital projects fund that forms the framework for a future five-year

capital improvement program.

Included in

this year's program is $230,000 for recreation improvements, including

money to resurface all of the county's ball fields. There's also a $991,000

capital fund for roads, with plans to increase from 27 to 45 the number

of miles to be resurfaced.

Cost of living

adjustments of 3.4 percent for employees, along with an average of about

3 percent for merit increases.

Increases

in the contingency fund to prepare for possible energy cost increases,

and for funding possible employee pay adjustments to keep local jobs competitive

with those in other nearby counties. A market study is underway to compare

local salaries with those insurrounding areas.

If the commission

approves, the general fund contingency will go from $400,000 this year

to $1.2 million next year, and a new $320,000 contingency fund will be

created for fire services as well.

$870,000 to

pay for sending Fayette County Jail inmates to a Union City jail to avoid

overcrowding in the local jail.

The proposed

budget is more than 7 percent higher than the adjusted 2001 $60.97 million

budget, but no increase in the property tax rate is anticipated. Taxes

will increase as a result of state-mandated value adjustments, and public

hearings will be required because of that.

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