With winter weather on the way, Trigg County’s Fiscal Court made room for special session Tuesday afternoon — taking in budget updates on both the County Clerk’s Office, as well as the Trigg County Sheriff’s Office.
And both stations brought in strong marks.
County Clerk Carmen Finley confirmed that 2024’s success was second only to the record efforts of 2023.
Specifically:
+ Motor vehicle property taxes exceeded $2.2 million
+ 874 deed transfers created more than $1.01 million in fees
+ 114 marriage licenses and 54 notaries were issued
+ Delinquent tax income was north of $264,000
+ And four grants were earned, including two for new election equipment, and two for more digital and physical storage of plats and historical records
All told, the office received more than $6 million in total receipts.
Furthermore, Finley was able to turn over more than $196,000 back to the court, courtesy of excess fees collected throughout the fiscal year.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Aaron Acree besought a budget increase of just 4.4% from 2024 to 2025 — based mostly on a 3% cost of living increase for his deputies, and a significant shift in spending for the K-9 unit: up from $3,000 last year, to $10,000 this year.
Nearly half of 23 line items, he said, were kept the same from year to year, with a total budget ask of $1,012,090 — an increase of $42,705.
Acree’s budget was unanimously passed, and furthermore, he reminded the court that any and all medical and essential staff needing a ride through inclement weather and poor road conditions this week can call Trigg County Dispatch and seek local transport through the Sheriff’s Office.
In other fiscal court news:
— Road Supervisor Brandon Calhoun affirmed that Trigg County received more than six inches of rain this past weekend, flooding typical locations in the community, but especially King’s Chapel Road and Glenwood Mill Road.
The latter, he said, along with Judge-Executive Stan Humphries, required incredible efforts to drain, through the assistance of Joe Nichols and Seven Springs Farms.
Humphries said that if there had been a major emergency, residents of Glenwood Mill Road would have been reached either by an old road bed or the airstrip near US 68/80, but frequent travel along either would have created even further rotten.
— Humphries and magistrates noted that the approval of a bid for the Trigg County Recreation Complex concession stand rebuild and remodel would likely come at the next meeting. It was originally slated to occur Tuesday afternoon, but Humphries said technical difficulties impeded any actions.
