By Ray King
A last-ditch effort to get a 2025 Jefferson County budget passed was over almost before it began Saturday as only four Justices of the Peace showed up, with the other 8 failing to appear.
Attending the meeting were Justices Ted Harden, Jimmy Fisher, Patricia Royal Johnson and Roy Agee. A fifth JP, who normally votes with those four, Dr. Connley Byrd, was out of town.
Not showing up were JP’s Reginald Adams, Melanie Dumas, Brenda Bishop Gaddy, Reginald Johnson, Cedric Jackson, Margarette Williams and Alfred Carroll.
Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson sent out a notice of the meeting Friday and included with the notice a revised budget that had been worked between Robinson and Justice of the Peace Reginald Johnson, who has become the spokesman for the seven JP’s who have voted no on a budget at least five times.
Robinson said this about the JP’s not showing up.
With a meeting to pass a budget not possible, Robinson explained to the media and to the few citizens who were there the changes he had made to his budget, which included cutting in half raises given to Chief Deputy Clerk’s and Office Managers but keeping the reduced amounts.
A legislative clerk position that had been included in the County Clerk’s Office was eliminated and JP Patricia Royal Johnson, who served as County Clerk for eight years talked about that position, and about raises count employees have received since Robinson took office.
That legislative clerk position was reportedly created for former Justice of the Peace Lloyd Franklin Jr., who was defeated when he sought a second term and has been an outspoken critic of Robinson, both while serving as a member of the court, and now as a private citizen.
Robinson had some harsh words for Frankin while talking to the media.
Senate Bill 182 by Senator Ben Gilmore has passed both the State House and Senate and Governor Sarah Sanders is expected to sign it Monday. That bill stipulates that if a city or county does not pass a yearly budget, they have to use the budget from the previous year. That means county employees will get the two paychecks for January that were not issued because a county budget had not been passed.
Robinson said this about the legislation.
