By Ray King
A proposal by Jefferson County Tax Collector Tony Washington to increase the salary of his chief deputy was tabled by the Quorum Court during a meeting conducted remotely Tuesday night.
Washington said the Chief Deputy Clerk’s in offices of the other elected officials are paid $50,000 or more while his Chief Deputy receives a salary of $36,000.
Washington proposed swapping a $28,000 currently in the Tax Collector’s Automation Fund with a $36,000 slot in County General, then increasing the Collector’s Automation Fund slot to $50,000.
By doing that, he said it would save County General $8,000 plus fringe benefits.
Justices of the Peace Patricia Royal Johnson, who is a former Jefferson County Clerk, and Tina Butler cast the only votes against tabling the proposal. After the vote, County Judge Gerald Robinson asked the members of the county’s legislative body to call or go talk to Washington and let him explain his proposal, hinting the subject will probably come up again.
The proposal was added to the agenda at the last minute and was not received by the media until right before the meeting.
In other business, the Quorum Court approved an ordinance to pay the costs associated with the November General Election and an ordinance allowing the County Clerk to apply for a grant to help cover costs of early voting.
The Jefferson County Election Commission submitted an estimate of $79,220 for the election with the largest expense being $37,970 to pay election workers. Another $17,000 was listed as costs of layout, machine preparation, delivery and pickup.
Regarding the grant, County Clerk Shawndra Taggart said in a letter to Robinson and the Quorum Court that the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which Justice of the Peace Dr. Conley Byrd said was run by the Democratic Party was offering grants to cities and counties “to carry out safe and healthy elections during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Byrd is a Republican.
Byrd cast the only no vote, allowing Taggart to proceed with the application.
Also Tuesday, the county’s legislative body voted to approve an amendment the MECA (Metropolitan Emergency Communications Association) by adding money and shifting money around to make the down payment on a new Computer Aided Dispatch System.
Karen Blevins, director of the Office of Emergency Management said the budget increase will be paid for by increased revenue as a result of an increase in Cellular Telephone fees. The purchase of the new system was approved by the MECA Board on Sept. 3.
