Pastor Don Messer invited everyone out to Tri-State Area Revival, which involved over 40 local churches and is being held at the Bell Central gym at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evening. (Photo by Jay Compton)

The Bell County Fiscal Court unanimously approved the second reading of the county’s fiscal year 2025-26 budget during Tuesday’s meeting. The budget includes a $1.00 raise for all county employees and is projected to have a $1.8 million surplus while keeping the same tax rate as last year.

“Myself, the treasurer (Irma Brooks), the fiscal court have been very prudent,” Judge-Executive Albey Brock said. “We’ve been through hard times and now we’ve managed to have a surplus. We’re not going to waste that, we’re going to try to build on that. I’m thankful to the treasurer, I’m thankful to the court for their support in that effort.”

In a separate matter, Randal Knuckles spoke to the court during audience participation. After asking several questions about the administrative code, the jail policy manual and the budget, he got to his main point of wanting the county to do more to address the issues of the road at Sam Low Branch continually getting washed out.

Knuckles asked if a bigger tile or a bigger culvert could be put in that would solve the issue.

Brock said it wasn’t a money issue, it was a water and topography issue.

“If we didn’t want to do it, why would we go up there and do anything?” Brock said. “You act as if we’ve not went up there and we don’t know what we’re doing. You don’t understand it, all I can do is have the road superintendent meet with you and try his best to explain it. . . in certain situations due to the depth of the creek and the base of the creek you can’t dig a hole in there and just stick a bigger tile in there.”

Brock agreed to meet with Knuckles and the road superintendent next Monday at noon at the site to discuss the issue.

Magistrate Eddie Saylor asked about progress being made at the Wildlife Center and at Flash Steel.

Brock said that he had heard from Green Construction that most of the underground work for the sewage system at Boone’s Ridge had been completed and now work was being done on filling in around the tanks and getting the above ground work finished. He said as far as he knew the plan was still to open in the spring of 2026.

He said at Flash Steel the concrete was ready to pour and some equipment had already been moved in. A soft opening there is still expected before the end of the year.

Pastor Don Messer opened Tuesday’s meeting with a prayer and also invited everyone out to the Tri-State Area Revival at the Bell Central gym at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evening. The event involves over 40 area churches.
In other business, the court:

• reviewed and approved the Bell County Fiscal Court Administrative Code with no changes;
• approved the Bell County Jail Policy and Procedures Manual with no changes;
• set salaries and pay rates for all county employees;
• accepted the Bell County Sheriff’s 2023 Property Tax Audit
• accepted remaining 2024 excess fees in the amount of $4,047.86 from County Clerk Debbie Gambrel;
• held hearings for County Road Aid and Local Government Economic Assistance with no public comments;
• hired Jenny Lee as part-time Deputy Jailer at $9.00 per hour effective June 12;
• hired Terry Barlow as part-time Deputy Jailer at $9.00 per hour retroactive to May 26 and Matthew Halcomb as part-time Deputy Jailer at $9.00 per hour retroactive to May 29;
• changed the rate of pay for Laura Ledford from $11.25 per hour to $12.25 per hour for completion of the Public Safety Dispatching Academy effective June 19;
• approve reimbursement to US Bancorp/Bell County Real Properties for the amount of $15,955.00, payment to First State Bank for the amount of $39,080.02, and payment to KACo for the amount of $2,436.83 for Flash Steel Works (to be paid when funds are available);
• accepted checks in the amount of $39,808.25 from Sheriff Mitch Williams and in the amount of $25,828.00 from County Clerk Debbie Gambrel.