Committee members challenged to give up compensation

A member of the county's solid waste authority is once again challenging other committees to forgo the monthly payments they receive for attending meetings.

Several months ago, member Bill Lewis made the suggestion that the authority stop accepting the $50 per month they receive for attending meetings to help out the county with its tight financial situation.

Lewis' idea at the time was to encourage other county committees to do the same.

However, since that time, no other committee had taken up the challenge and member Bobby Vannatta proposed last Thursday to reinstate the pay.

Over the past four months, the authority has saved a total of $1,800 of county funds by not accepting a paycheck.

"If you are serious about helping out the county, put your money where your mouth is," Lewis said, restating his challenge to the county's other committees.

The authority agreed to keep refusing pay and Vannatta said he would bring up Lewis' challenge at the next meeting of the county's finance committee.

However, county mayor Eugene Ray told the T-G that the pay that committee members get was "not a significant amount" and that some members do not receive pay at all.

"They can give it all back if they want to," Ray said on Wednesday.

County finance director Robert Daniel explained it would be hard to put a figure on how much would be saved if committees were not paid because members who receive payment do not have a regular meeting schedule.

For example, beer board member are paid $50 per meeting and members of the board of zoning appeals get $25, but those groups only gather when necessary.

Daniel said that last year, a total of $14,725 were paid to members of the county's road board, election commission, beer board, planning commission, board of zoning appeals and the county's budget committee.

"Most don't get paid," Daniel said, with the exception of the county's road and school superintendents, who are paid $75 per meeting attended. Members are only paid if they attend the meetings, Daniel added.

County commissioners also get one half of one percent of the county mayor's salary, but Daniels was unable to provide that figure.

In other business, the authority also voted to continue "as is" with the county's scrap metal until new bids are taken at the end of the year.

Joe Reed, who is currently handling scrap metal for the county, suggested to the authority they pay him a flat rate --an average over a three-month period for the scrap he accepts -- but the authority chose to wait until the end of the year and take bids.

Highway Superintendent Stanley Smotherman told the authority that he has received an insurance payment of $21,644 for the sanitation truck that was involved in an accident in Deason on July 30.

The truck has been repaired and will be used when needed for emergency situations, Smotherman said. The authority also voted to declare the truck surplus, along with nine dumpsters, and put them for sale on the website govdeals.com.