McCracken County Fiscal Court Balances Budget, Deputies Get a Raise

WKMS | By Todd Hatton

Published May 4, 2012 at 9:46 AM CDT

In just over an hour last night, the McCracken County Fiscal Court produced a tentative balanced budget for the next fiscal year. Commissioners met to close an over $170,000 dollar shortfall. They overcame the gap by eliminating the county’s annual financial contribution to EntrePaducah and reducing funds for the county’s new animal shelter. EntrePaducah is running a $350,000 dollar surplus, and Commissioner Ronnie Freeman says that means the county can cut their $300,000 dollar contribution to zero. The savings have also allowed commissioners to approve a 6% pay increase for McCracken County Sheriff’s deputies. County Judge Executive Van Newberry says commissioners have been working for years to bring deputies’ pay up to the level of city police officers.

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Todd Hatton

Todd Hatton hails from Paducah, Kentucky, where he got into radio under the auspices of the late, great John Stewart of WKYX while a student at Paducah Community College. He also worked at WKMS in the reel-to-reel tape days of the early 1990s before running off first to San Francisco, then Orlando in search of something to do when he grew up. He received his MFA in Creative Writing at Murray State University. He vigorously resists adulthood and watches his wife, Angela Hatton, save the world one plastic bottle at a time.

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