As Pulaski County’s budget discussions continue, one county council member has come up with a list of ideas for the county commissioners to explore that might cut costs and increase revenue. Kathi Thompson presented her discussion points during Monday’s special council meeting, with all three commissioners in attendance.
“I think that when the building inspector comes to you about ag exempt, that you need to give that some consideration,” she said. “I want the county council to discuss the EMA Department and whether or not was really want to have a staff person that is appointed for life.”
She also suggested working with the airport manager and board of aviation commissioners to try to enhance Arens Field. “You know, at Plymouth Airport, they’re doing training now,” Thompson said. “Maybe we can do some of that. Maybe we can offer our hangars. Maybe there’s a lot of things that we can do to enhance the airport.”
Thompson’s other suggestions were to ask the townships to chip in to the cost of ambulance services, and to keep a closer eye on income versus expenditures for the county’s recycling center.
Meanwhile, Council Member Ken Boswell would like the commissioners to see if they can get better prices on some of the county’s service agreements, such as those for printers. He stressed that solving the county’s financial challenges will require the council and commissioners to work together. “We could just cut 10 percent out of the whole county General budget and just say, ‘It’s gone. Figure out how to manage it, commissioners. It’s your problem now.’ That’s not a good way to operate,” Boswell said. “You want to talk about bad operation. That’s bad operation. So we’ve got to look at it from our side. You guys have to, as citizens, put pressure, as you do on us, you have to hold the commissioners accountable, too.”
Council members plan to discuss the ideas more when they meet next Monday, and decide which, if any, of them to formally take to the commissioners.
