Jefferson County employees have started picking up paychecks after going two pay periods without money due to the ongoing budget impasse by the Jefferson County Quorum Court.
The paychecks come after Senate Bill 182 was signed into law by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday. The new law mandates that county employees and vendors continue to be paid if a Quorum Court does not vote in a budget at the beginning of the year.
Questions arose about paychecks on Monday evening when Rosetta Giddens, the Administrative Assistant for County Judge Gerald Robinson, refused to sign payroll after the bill was signed into law by the Governor on Monday. Giddens is the second in command behind the County Judge, and would be responsible for signing payroll with Robinson being away for a family emergency.
County Judge Gerald Robinson promised Deltaplex News that payroll would be signed on Tuesday morning. That promise was kept, allowing employees to be paid.
On Tuesday morning county employees began picking up two paper checks, one for each missed pay period, at the Jefferson County court house.
Now that employees and vendors are once again being paid it is up to the Jefferson County Quorum Court to work towards passing a budget for 2025. County Judge Gerald Robinson will go without pay and the Quorum Court members will go without per diem until a budget is passed.
