At least one White County Commissioner agrees with the county sheriff that commissioners did not get a clear picture of what they were voting on Monday night.
Sherriff Steve Page said he thought county commissioners were misled when the county’s new fiscal year budget passed.
District Seven Commissioner Larry Daniels said the sheriff’s budget was not clearly labeled within the budget he was given.
“We do not agree with the budget they have for emergency services, we want to try to get the people more pay and make it worth what they work for because they are underpaid,” Daniels said. “I think it slid in there, that the good old boys slid it under behind us, or under the table, where we wouldn’t know what it was to get it passed.”
Daniels said if it was made more clear what was being voted for, he and other commissioners would not have voted the way they did.
District Four Commissioner Dakota White said there were chances for the commissioners and the public to ask clarifying questions.
“In my opinion, there were three ample opportunities for not only commissioners, but the public, to gain complete understanding and knowledge of the budget for the next coming fiscal year,” White said.
White said an email containing the minutes was sent out to all commissioners, and a public meeting before the vote.
White did agree with the sheriff that the department needs more funding. He said he would add that the entire county workforce needs to be paid more as well.
“As a whole, we as a county do need to do more for our employees,” White said. “In general, not just the sheriff department, not just one individual department, but they all need to be looked at. And a more aggressive pay scale needs to be discussed.”
White said he believes the county should do a study of surrounding counties’ pay scales to see what a fair pay raise would be for each individual department.
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