April 18, 2025
By: Dwayne Page
The Budget Committee of the DeKalb County Commission heard Tuesday night from department heads of the Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad, 911 Emergency Communications District, County Fire Department, and Library Director who made their budget requests for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Although he was not in attendance, 911 Director Brad Mullinax put in a request for an additional $11,500 to support salary increases for three 911 dispatchers. He has made the same request of the City of Smithville, and he is seeking another $7,000 from the Town of Alexandria.
The county currently funds three dispatcher positions at $160,000 per year. If the budget request is approved the cost to the county would go to $171,500. The City of Smithville also funds three dispatchers at $160, 000 and is being asked to up its funding by $11,500 more. Alexandria funds half a dispatch position at $28,000 and will be requested to increase the amount by $7,000 to $35,000. The 911 board funds another three and a half dispatcher positions.
Dusty Johnson, Captain of the Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad requested an additional $8,500 to purchase one used portable radio.
The Rescue Squad, made up of volunteers, is a non-profit organization and not an entity of county government. It receives an annual contribution from the county for its services which includes searching for drowning victims, cave/rope rescues and searches for missing persons, etc. This year’s request is for a total of $51,321 including the purchase of the radio.
Library Director Kathy Hendrixson requested a one dollar increase in the hourly pay for part time staff which comes to an additional $3,800. The rate will go from $12 to $13 per hour. This along with the step raises already scheduled for full time staff in the budget would put the library’s total budget at $248,167 for the year.
County Fire Donny Green has not asked for any significant increase in the fire department budget.
“Everything is pretty much static in our budget requests this year. There are a few things I increased line items on like parts and repairs just because of increased costs. Its not anything significant. I have a couple of line items in my budget that is tied to raises. I would like for those items to be adjusted regarding part time personnel (one shared position) and related expenses for social security, and unemployment contingent on what you (budget committee and county commission) do for other general fund pay raises. The other line item increases in my budget are very minimal because of costs going up but I had a couple of line items that went down,” said Chief Green.
Meanwhile the $25,000 budgeted amount for property tax relief has been increased to $34,000 to due to an increase in applicants for the program.
The budget committee took no action on any request Tuesday night. The next meeting of the committee will be Tuesday, April 22 at 6 p.m. in the downstairs courtroom of the courthouse.