County fund shifts approved

Bedford County Board of Commissioners, meeting Tuesday night, approved a budget amendment and two resolutions to combine county funds.

The amendment shifts funds between accounts to reflect actual revenue and actual spending, and adjusts the county's fund balance upward to reflect audit results.

The resolutions combine several separate county funds into the county general fund effective with the 2010-2011 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

The special purpose fund, the special purpose capital assets fund, and the Tennessee Rehabilitation Center construction fund were maintained separately from the county's general fund, but state auditors say the GASB-54 standards published by the Government Accounting Standards Board require those funds to be rolled into the general fund.

The special purpose fund had been maintained so that the county could use funding sources from outside city limits -- such as sales tax from rural businesses -- to fund rural services like animal control or fire protection.

The special purpose capital assets fund includes the proceeds from the sale of Bedford County Medical Center; the county uses the interest on those funds but does not touch the principal. The Tennessee Rehabilitation Center construction fund is used by the county to pay for the construction costs for the TRC facility on Railroad Avenue; the state reimburses those costs in the form of a rental payment.

County Mayor Eugene Ray assured the Financial Management Committee last month that the county will still be able to track those budget items separately.

Finance Director Robert Daniel said he would have a working draft of the 2010-2011 budget ready to present to the Financial Management Committee at 9 a.m. Friday and invited other commissioners to attend and pick up their copies.

Other discussion Tuesday night:

* Commissioner J.D. "Bo" Wilson asked about a bill for $30,000 for psychiatric testing of jail inmates. Daniel said that if the district attorney refers a suspect for psychiatric evaluation, the county is responsible to pay for it. If that testing is part of a felony case, the county can apply to the state for reimbursement, but such reimbursement can take months or a year to be approved.

Commissioner Tony Barrett, who is also a sheriff's deputy, said that in the past, the firm which did the psychiatric testing didn't bill the county at all. But the firm realized that it could legally be compensated and began exercising its right to do so.

Commissioner Bobby Vannatta said he doesn't believe the county should be responsible for such costs.

"You don't have to agree with it," said Ray, "but they'll still lock you up" for not providing such evaluations.

Barrett said most of the cases where a psychiatric evaluation is called for would tend to be felonies, meaning the county should be compensated for them eventually.

* Ray announced that a six-month agreement has been reached with Griffin Industries to pick up livestock carcasses and deliver them to a landfill. Griffin Industries has been picking up the carcasses for years but recently announced it would stop doing so, because new federal regulations make it more expensive to process them. The company has agreed to pick up the carcasses for a six-month interim period, not for its own use but to transport them to a landfill, while local officials try to develop a longer-term solution.

* Commissioners reappointed Ray, David Gordon and Harry Layne to their seats on Bedford County Solid Waste Authority board.

* Commissioners approved replacing the parking barriers in front of Veterans Plaza with planters which will be supplied and maintained by the Chamber of Commerce's beautification committee.

* Commissioners approved a change in the rules for Bedford County Animal Control which allows some dogs suspected of contracting rabies to be detained at home, rather than at BCAC or a veterinarian's office. BCAC and Bedford County Health Department supervise this process to ensure that the dogs are properly confined. Home detention was already being used by BCAC, at the health department's recommendation; this simply changes the written policies to bring them in line with actual practice.

* Commissioners heard presentations honoring retiring county firefighter Robert McAnally; the county's state troopers and the late commissioner Joyce Tune. In addition, Register of Deeds Johnny Reed expressed his personal gratitude to the critical care unit at Heritage Medical Center for the care given to his father.