For months the board has been wrangling with the budget process but at Thursday's board meeting the budget passed surprisingly quickly with very little discussion. Director Honeycutt presented his proposed budget which included several options for reductions. Only $59,000.00 of those options were included in the budget.

Board member Larry Proaps made the motion to accept the director's proposal which included an across the board 2% raise for all employees. His motion was seconded by Craig Simon. The motion passed by only one vote with Proaps, Simon, Leroy Tate, Scott Newman, Bill Marcus and Gary Ubben voting for the budget. Board members Lisa Russell, Bobby Johnson Jr. and myself voted against the budget. Steve Harrelson was absent. The total budget is nearly $38,000,000.00.

Getting the budget passed by the board was only the first hurdle. The budget will now go to the full commission where it could be approved or rejected.

The large increase in the operating budget would also have a major impact on the proposed building program by reducing the available funds for the debt service if commission accepts the budget.