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Sequoyah County Commissioners had to continue dealing with a budget shortfall at their meeting Monday, due in part to the lag in collecting a new half-cent sales tax for the county sheriff and jail operations.
Bruce Tabor, District 1 commissioner, said it was hoped sales tax collection, approved by voters Oct. 13, would begin in November and the tax returned to the county by January. But the Oklahoma Tax Commission informed the county that the tax collection will not begin until January, and the tax returned to the county three months later, in March or even as late as April.
That leaves county government short of money again until the sales tax begins rolling in.
To pay health insurance premiums, the commissioners borrowed $40,000 from the court clerk’s office and $30,000 from the county’s treasurer’s office from this year’s budget. The $70,000 for health insurance benefits must also be approved by the county excise board.
Tabor said, “We’re hoping next year will be a much better year. We are still having problems with the sheriff’s office and the jail.”
Sheriff Ron Lockhart told the commissioners he did not have enough money to continue operations of his office and the jail.
“I’ve got enough to operate until January. I’ve used everything I’ve got,” Lockhart told the commissioners about his funds. “I have less money now than I did after the tax passed.”
Tabor said the commissioners had to borrow money from the court clerk and treasurer just to keep paying employees’ health benefits. Otherwise, Tabor said, the county would have to cancel all employees’ health insurance.
Lockhart countered, “We’re going to have to lay some people off…maybe 11 to 12 people. What do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know,” Tabor said. “We gave you all we had. I don’t know where the money went to, but it’s gone. I have no answers.”
Tabor said he was told the sales tax revenue will be returned to the county “maybe in March, but who knows.
“That’s the situation,” Tabor said. “We can cut all the insurance or run the jail. That’s the only alternative we have.”
Tabor said the county’s budget maker, Vickie Wilson of Shawnee, was working on a new budget, which he hoped would arrive this week.
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