The Pulaski County Council decided Monday not to appropriate additional funds to pay part-time staff. Last month, Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Johnston asked council members for permission to spend another $30,000 for part-time help. At the time, he reminded them that money had been cut from the 2018 budget so the state would approve it, with the understanding that he could come back later to request enough for the rest of the year.
Council members agreed to advertise his request, but when it came up for final approval Monday, Ken Boswell’s motion died for lack of a second. Auditor Laura Wheeler said she didn’t think the Johnston’s Part-Time Help line item was out of money yet, but it was getting close.
Similarly, EMS Director Bryan Corn said his Part-Time Staff line item was low on funds, but for a different reason. “We had quite a few issues with our full-time staff,” he explained. “We had a lot of openings that we had to fill. In order to fill those, for the most part, the first half of the year, we had to utilize part-time employees, in order to make sure that there was staff on the 911 trucks and the 911 trucks were going. With that being said and really, really utilizing the heck out of our part-timers, that took a huge toll out of the budget.”
To pay his part-time staff for the rest of the year, Corn requested a transfer of nearly $16,000 from two other line items, plus an additional appropriation of $35,000. But council member Boswell pointed out that if there’s a shortage in the budget for part-time employees, there should be some extra money in the budget for full-time staff. “Why can’t we use the unused money out of the full-time to put into the part-time?” Boswell asked. “That way, we’re not doing [an additional appropriation]. Maybe then, he doesn’t need the [other] transfer. He might not need a transfer or an additional.”
The challenge is that full-time EMS employees are apparently paid out of a different fund than the part-time staff is. Auditor Wheeler said in this case, money technically can’t be transferred between those funds, but it could be moved within the fund and part-time employees could be paid out of it.
In the end, council members voted to transfer the $35,000 from the full-time budget, to make it available to pay part-time staff. They also approved Corn’s initial transfer request, on the condition that it only take place if there isn’t enough money available in the full-time budget.
