County Board votes to transfer tort liability funds to pay operating expenses
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
By DAVID CAMPHOUSE
At its August 25 meeting, the Pike County Board voted to dip into the county’s tort liability fund to offset its ongoing budget shortfall.
The board approved a $250,000 transfer from the tort liability fund to the county’s general fund, so that the funds can be used to pay for day-to-day operating expenses – including salaries, benefits, and recurring bills. The liability fund currently has more than $700,000.
The tort liability funds are only supposed to be used for expenses that will mitigate risk to the county – such as replacing a leaking roof on a county-owned building that could cause greater harm in the future – but the board members saw no other option than to borrow from the liability fund.
The only other fund from which the county could borrow from to help offset its budget shortfall would have been the Ambulance Service’s funds, but Board Member Tom Lewis spoke out passionately against taking money from the Ambulance Service.
Lewis cited another instance several years ago where the county ‘borrowed’ funds from the Ambulance Service and has never repaid the so-called loan. Lewis said he wanted to ensure such an incident never took place again.
After much discussion, the fund transfer from the tort liability fund was approved, with only Derek Ross voting in opposition.
The motion that was passed to approve the fund transfer included language stating that the funds would be repaid to the tort liability fund no later than November 30, 2025, but it was not made clear by the board from where the funds to repay the tort liability fund would be drawn.
In other business, the board approved several appointments to various boards and bodies.
Board members voted to approve the reappointment of former Pike-Scott Farm Bureau Director Blake Roderick to the Board of the Mid-America Intermodal Authority Port District.
The Board also approved the appointment of David H. Borrowman, Jr. to the Sny Island Levee Drainage District for a 3-year term to begin on September 9, 2025.
Noelle Flesner was approved to serve on the Pike County Housing Authority Board for a term to expire on June 30, 2030.
Near the end of the meeting, citing the county’s dire financial state, board members Andy Borrowman, Lance Kendrick, and Jim Sheppard all requested that they not be paid for their board services for the remainder of the year.
