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By JOYANNA LOVE/ Managing Editor

The Chilton County E-911 Board approved the budget for the 2022 fiscal year during a Aug. 26 voting session.

911 Director Terra Scott included salary increases “for employees who have passed their evaluations.”

She said the employees in the department have been working extra to fill the gap after six employees left, and have not had a merit raise in the past two years.

The raises would increase the salary budget by $10,000.

An increase to split the cost of a new server with the Chilton County Sheriff’s Office was also included.

Totals expenses for the department were budgeted at $1,213,910.

On the revenue side, the department expects $343,252 from local governments based on increases in the five-year agreement they all signed. An additional $875,000 would come from the Emergency Telephone Surcharge, bringing the total expected revenue to $1,218,252.

Board Chairman Joseph Parnell asked about saving funding for a new E-911 facility for dispatch. Scott said when this had been discussed in the past the idea was to begin this after the five years of incremental increases in revenue from the local governments.

“I am still looking at things that could be possibly be removed that we are paying right now,” Scott said. “That’s what this year was, seeing what we could get rid of and downsize from. I am hoping after our increase next year that we should be able to hopefully start saving some.”

Scott said the department had gone slightly over budgeted numbers in the past fiscal year, but there were funds in other areas of the budget to cover this.

Payroll, computer hardware, surety bonds and telephone expenses were expected to be higher than what had been budgeted.

Scott explained that six employees had left the department in the past six months leading to the pay out of vacation and holiday time all at once.

Repairs to the server led to the increase on the computer hardware line item.

Scott said surety bonds went up because paying for this for all of the board members was added.

Even with the increases, Scott expected here to be $200,000 left in the budget that could roll over to fiscal year 2022.

Scott also received approval to ask the Chilton County Commission to fund the purchase of five P25 consoles. The consoles will make converting to the new countywide P25 emergency communications system smoother for the department.

When looking to fund the purchase through American Rescue Plan funding or grants, Scott said she had been told the request would have to come from the county commission.