By Bill Grubb

ROGERSVILLE — Hawkins County Commissioners approved a 2008-09 budget package Monday that restored a proposed cut in the contribution for Hawkins County Library System, the only non-profit agency or organization to be spared from the budget ax.  
    Representatives of county fire departments and many of the organizations and agencies impacted by the cuts attended the meeting, providing a rare near capacity audience in the second floor courtroom.
    The $83 million budget, approved by an 11 to seven vote, with two abstentions and one commissioner absent, maintains the county’s
property tax rate at $2.61 per $100 of assessed property value.
    The original budget had proposed a 10 percent cut in most contributions, including $9,400 in the amount allocated for the County Library System.
    Last week Don Reynolds, Director of Nolichucky Regional Library, the system under which County Library System operates, warned cutting library funds would have dire consequences because the county would not  meet a maintenance of effort agreement.
    In an article appearing in the August 23/24 edition of the Rogersville Review, Hawkins County Library System Director Kristin White said, “If the county commission cuts library funding, the regional library system’s first step will be to remove all state-owned materials from our libraries at Rogersvllle, Surgoinsville and Church Hill.”
    Approximately 40 percent of all collections in the county system would be removed and placed at other libraries in the regional, seven-county system library officials said.
    After the budget resolution was introduced Commissioner Fred Montgomery made a motion to restore the funding for the library.
    Virgil Mallett, a member of the Budget Committee said members were not aware of the ramifications of a cut until last week.  He also complained the library system did not send a representative to the budget workshop dealing with donations.
    Although the commission approved the resolution to restore funding for the Hawkins County Library System, the contribution for the separate Mount Carmel Library was reduced by $500 from last year’s funding level, down from $5,000 to $4,500.
    The commission also rejected several attempts to send the budget proposal back to the budget committee to be reworked or to restore other cuts, including cuts in contributions for emergency services.
    In the 2008-09 budget each fire department will receive $13,500, a $1,500 decrease from the previous budget year.
    Commissioner-elect Stacy Vaughan, who serves as chief of the Stanley Valley Volunteer Fire Department, asked commissioners to reconsider the budget cuts.
    “The effects of these cuts will have direct negative impact on the level and quality of services provided by our fire and rescue departments,” he said, reading from a statement endorsed by the Hawkins County Firemen’s Association.
    Vaughan noted the county’s population is growing but funding has not kept up with the demand.  He said the various departments have received $2.3 million in federal funds for new equipment, with all departments providing the necessary local matching funds.   
    “This is $2.3 million in federal tax dollars that your volunteer departments have brought back to our county and this has been accomplished without the county incurring any cost or burden of tax increases to the citizens,” Vaughan said.
    Nancy Barker, Executive Director of the Rogersville/Hawkins County Chamber of Commerce, also addressed the funding cuts.
    “The 10 percent cut you are taking from all these non-profits are basically killing us,” Barker said.
    She said the chamber’s work on the Three-Star program for the county gives local governments extra points on grant applications.    According to Barker, over a two year period the county has received  $8.50 for each $1 the chamber receives.  She also suggested commissioners should look at the benefits provided from each of the non-profit organizations.
    Under the budget plan the Rogersville/Hawkins County Chamber will lose $700 and the East Hawkins County Chamber of Commerce lost $200.
    Other proposed cuts include:
    •  A $5,000 reductions in the allocation for the Church Hill and
Hawkins County Rescue squads, from  $50,000 to $45,000 each.
    •  A $14,000 cut in the appropriation for Hawkins County’s 911 center, from $140,000 to $126,000.
    •  A $3,000 cut in the contribution for Church Hill and Hawkins County EMS, with each receiving $27,000 in the proposed budget.
    •  A $1,500 cut for the Hawkins County Humane Society, which will now receive $13,500.
    The full commission also rejected an attempt by Commissioner Danny Alvis to reduce the pay for all commissioners by 10 percent, with a portion of the savings to be donated to the Disabled Veterans of America Chapter 59 to purchase a transport van.