The ambulance service budget is set for the year as recommended by the county budget committee Tuesday night.
According to the spending plan, EMS staff will get their scheduled step raises and for the first time, a step raise will be applied to EMS Director Trent Phipps whose salary has been $61,040. Based on his 18 years of service as a paramedic, Phipps’ pay will be adjusted by one percent to $61,650. The EMS budget also includes an extra $4,000 in incentive pay for medical personnel and $2,000 more in overtime for those serving as medical death investigators who respond to death calls.
Director Phipps had initially requested as one option a $5.00 per hour increase in pay for the 20 EMS medical personnel employed by the ambulance service and that his own pay be increased from $61,040 to $90,000. The idea was to put the director’s pay above the highest paid EMS employee. According to payroll records provided by a county commissioner, the highest paid EMS employee for the period of July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024 was $71,971 (gross amount) including hourly pay and overtime. The same employee earned $60,177 (gross amount) during the period from July 1, 2024 to April 10, 2025.
The proposed EMS budget request was later revised to include only step pay increases for personnel and for the director’s pay to go to $70,000.
During Tuesday night’s meeting, the budget committee was asked to consider raising Phipps’ pay to $70,000 and giving EMS personnel a $3.00 per hour raise in addition to the step increases.
Glynn Merriman, a member of the budget committee, made a motion to leave the regular step raises in place for the EMS workers along with the extra funds for MDIs and to keep the director’s pay at $61,040. The motion failed 4-3 with Chairman Jeff Barnes and members Mathias Anderson, Tony Luna, and Tony (Cully) Culwell voting against it and members Sabrina Farler and Daniel Cripps voting with Merriman for the motion.
According to Merriman, raising the director’s pay to $70,000 was too much at this time and he questioned the fairness in giving a $3.00 per hour increase in pay to EMS personnel without also providing it to sheriff’s department deputies even though the sheriff had not requested it.
“I know EMS does an important job and I appreciate everyone of them but if we give them a $3.00 an hour raise we need to give the deputies a $3.00 an hour raise because their lives are in danger too. That’s the way I look at it. They put their lives on the line too and he (sheriff) didn’t ask for one. I am not saying they are not worth it but if one gets it they both deserve it,” said Merriman.
After Merriman’s motion failed, Budget committee member Anderson made a motion to put the director’s pay at $70,000 and to give EMS personnel a $2.00 per hour increase plus the steps. His motion died for the lack of a second.
Budget committee member Luna then moved to leave the regular step raises in the budget for EMS personnel but to apply the step raise to the director’s position, which is something that has not been done before. Based on his 18 years of experience, Luna’s motion was to give Director Phipps a 1% increase in pay putting it at $61,650 and to include the extra $4,000 for medical personnel serving as MDIs and $2,000 more in overtime. The vote was adopted 6-1 with Anderson being the lone no vote.
Later in the meeting, Director Phipps asked the budget committee to reconsider his salary saying he had taken a pay cut when he moved from being a paramedic to director last year after the death of former EMS director Hoyte Hale. Phipps asked that his salary be at least $67,647 which is what it was as paramedic.
Budget committee member Mathias Anderson made a motion to up the director’s pay to $67,647 and to give EMS staff an extra $1.00 per hour in addition to their regular step raises. The motion failed 4-3 with members Merriman, Farler, Cripps, and Chairman Barnes voting against it. Joining Anderson in supporting the motion were members Luna and Culwell.
The total EMS budget is $1,900,615 including $803,476 in salaries for the 20 medical personnel and $188,419 in budgeted overtime pay.
In other business, the budget committee adopted on a 5-2 vote the emergency management budget which includes an $11,500 increase in the county’s longstanding contracted contribution to the DeKalb County Emergency Communications District. The total cost for that will go from $160,000 to $171,500 per year. Both the county and the City of Smithville are under contract with 911 to each fund three dispatcher positions including benefits. The Town of Alexandria also makes a 911 contribution to help fund a position.
DeKalb ECD (911) Director Brad Mullinax addressed the budget committee prior to the vote. “We have surveyed our surrounding counties and found out we are paying significantly less for starting dispatchers than counties around us and this includes Cannon, White, and Putnam. We didn’t shoot for the moon on this. Its about what they are paying in surrounding counties on average. We are proposing $18 an hour and this would be an increase to the county of $11,500 per year and to the City of Smithville as well. A starting dispatcher makes $16.56 per hour. It’s a $1.44 increase,” said Mullinax.
“Our budget is extremely tight. We have trimmed and cut. One of our biggest problems is we had significant money in cd’s gaining interest of about $50,000 a year but when we pulled out $1.1 million total for investment in radios that brought our surplus fund balance down to about $900,000. I am projecting now that we will get somewhere in the neighborhood of about $25,000 in interest versus $50,000 this year,” explained Mullinax.
“Our insurance is up because we have had more subscribers. Insurance benefits is up. That went from about $68,000 last year to $94,000 this year. The employees were told that the local match for their employee health insurance is going to increase by about $60 bucks. Their pay raise is basically going to cover their health insurance,” Mullinax continued.
“We have to give employees raises. We have to stay competitive in the job market with 911 centers in the Upper Cumberland because they will go somewhere else and it costs a lot to train a dispatcher. We have about $10,000 to $15,000 invested in a dispatcher by the time we get them fully trained up,” he said.
“Our 911 board has not yet been passed our budget for the year. That is to be acted on by June 24 and then sent to the Tennessee Emergency Communications District,” said Mullinax.
Meanwhile, the budget committee approved an increase in the 40 hour per week shared firefighter position (one position) which will go from $36,281 to $37,370. Available firefighters, who are trained and certified, rotate in and out of the position as needed and no firefighter works more than 24 hours a week.
The budget further includes funding for a new building codes inspection program. Earlier this year the county commission adopted a resolution establishing the current state building codes for the county to go by. A local part time building inspector is to be hired to administer the program. The position has already been advertised, and one person has applied. After a certified building codes inspector has been hired, the county will have to enter into a contract with him and then submit to the state a completed 14-page survey after which the county will be audited to ensure local compliance. Audits are done every three years.
County Mayor Matt Adcock said since this is a new program figuring the actual collections and costs the first year is challenging. According to Adcock, the inspector’s salary would be 65% of collections from fees.
“After one fiscal year, we will have a better idea of what to budget for next year. I’m thinking $25,000 to see where that gets us and add $1,500 in office supplies. We can amend it if needed,” said County Mayor Adcock. The proposed budget includes a projection of $40,000 in revenue from the program.
The budget committee adopted an appropriations resolution totaling $74, 448, 527 for the year 2025-26. Also approved on a 5-2 vote was a capital improvement plan. “This is a plan to look ahead to try to manage what it is you are going to do,” said Steve Bates, the county’s fiscal agent. The plan includes projections for a new jail at $35,000,000 on 12-year notes, $1.3 million for land purchase to build school #2, new elementary school construction and the purchase of an ambulance from capital projects in 2026, another ambulance purchase in 2028, and in 2036 construction of school #2. Members Farler and Culwell voted no on the capital improvement plan. Farler said she wanted to wait until after the jail committee meeting next week.
The scheduled budget committee meeting for tonight (Thursday, June 12) has been cancelled.