Madison Co. Budget Committee considers proposals from various departments

MADISON COUNTY, Tenn. — The remaining Madison County departments met with the budget committee Friday morning to go over their budget proposals.

“We were finishing up our budget hearings. We had several of the smaller departments come. The election commission, the trustee,” said Madison County Budget Committee Chairman Doug Stephenson.

Stephenson says the committee had to rearrange several budget items due to the pandemic, and now they have to change it back.

“We’re trying to get that under control,” Stephenson said. “Then we’ll be accumulating all of these numbers together, revenue and expenditures, to sort of see where we are and what cuts or what we need to do.”

Stephenson says this meeting was one of the easier ones.

The county is receiving $19 million from the federal government, and the biggest challenge will be how to distribute that while following federal guidelines.

“How to use that money, what’s the time frame to use that money,” Stephenson said. “The schools have essered 2.0 and essered 3.0. Those two are getting $53 million. How do we use the money under the guidance of what the federal government will allow us to do.”

Stephenson says the school board is the next department on the agenda for a budget meeting.

Capital hearings are also scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.