A spokesman for the Sequoyah County Commissioners' office said an illness forced the judge to cancel the hearing, which was to be on the county budget battles.
The hearing has not been rescheduled as far as he knows, District 3 Commissioner Cleon Harrell said.
In the meantime, the excise board invited the county commissioners to a meeting at 8:30 a.m. Monday to work on the budget.
In a letter dated Sept. 13 and delivered Sept. 14, Charles Sloan of the excise board wrote, "We would like for the county commissioners to be present for that meeting so we can discuss and attempt to finalize the budget of $1,826,822.11."
In the letter Sloan said excise board members spent several hours reconciling the figures in an attempt to balance the budget while considering the requirement of Judge Norman with "funding constitutional offices."
Sloan said excise board members discussed possible ways to balance the budget. The remedies included having county employees pay 25 percent of their medical insurance; starting Jan. 1, 2005, dropping the liability insurance; the commissioners continuing to pay their own salaries from county highway funds; and cutting all departments.
The budget controversy has been ongoing for three years.
Judge Norman, in an attempt to stop the controversy, asked the county commissioners and excise board members to write a budget which was agreeable to both and present the budget at the hearing Wednesday.
Since Norman ordered the hearing, budget proposals have flown back and forth between the commissioners and excise board, but a final budget has not been agreed to by both boards.
At the center of the budget battle is the question about who controls the budget. Excise board members say they have the final say and act as an oversight board for county spending. County commissioners say they are delegated by the state to have the final say on the county budget.
