Commissioners approve $268,143 to county, schools, communities

In their final weekly meeting of Fiscal Year 2023, the Sequoyah County Commissioners approved equal distribution of $268,143.42 each to the county general fund, county schools, and the county’s cities and towns.

The distribution was made possible when the commissioners approved the county treasurer’s resale financial statement for FY23, which had a balance of $1,304,430. When the $500,000 expenditures were subtracted, which the treasurer retains, the $804,430.25 balance is equally divided among the three recipients.

The commissioners also approved changes to the county’s employee compensation policy and employee exemptions, as requested by the district attorney’s office.

“The DA basically just wanted us to update that a little bit to show what our caps are on the first deputies and second deputies, and the pay scale for the courthouse employees,” District 3 Commissioner Jim Rogers explained. “And then the exemptions will include the sheriff’s department and all road crews who work more than 8 to 4 schedules, are subject to be on call 24 hours a day and often have to work outside in dangerous conditions.”

The commissioners also declared two lots in Sallisaw as common areas of nuisance properties, which allows the county to deed the properties to the city. Rogers said the two side-by-side lots were up for resale due to delinquent taxes, and that by declaring them nuisance properties and signing them over to the city “keeps us from having to maintain that, and the city will get some good usage out of it as well. We want to be good partners with the city as well.”

In other business, the commissioners approved their intent to continue to participate in the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma Self Insurance Group (ACCO-SIG) for property and liability insurance coverage. Annual cost for the coverage is $289,741, which is paid in two payments, the first in the amount of $143,232, and the second for $146,509.

“That’s jumped tremendously,” Rogers observed, “and one of the things that we just did, we had some appraisers come through and appraise all of our properties and make sure that we had everything listed. They’ve done that all across the state, all 77 counties. We had several properties that weren’t previously listed. With inflation, our coverage increased by $3 million, so that’s the reason for the big jump. I think our premium was like $190,000 last year, so we’re almost $100,000 more this time around.”

In other end-of-the-year business, the commissioners approved:

• 2023 Rural Economic Action Plan (REAP) contract closeout certification countywide, which is forwarded to the Eastern Oklahoma Development District (EODD)

• Compilation engagement letter from Wilson, Dotson & Associates PLLC to prepare the county’s estimate of needs, which determines what monies will have available for the next budget year The commissioners also approved transfers of appropriations from:

• Cares Act Part Time Help to Cares Capital Outlay in the amount of $29,937.48

• Cares Act Part Time Help to Cares Capital Outlay in the amount of $4,698

• Assessor Visual Inspection Travel to Assessor Visual Inspection M&O in the amount of $300

In response to a request by the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office, the commissioners approved the sheriff’s office applying for a Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) grant. This grant would enhance or take the place of the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grant, for which the sheriff’s office is currently in its eighth year for being approved. The sheriff’s office is permitted to apply for the VAWA grant in the event the county’s renewal application for the VOCA grant is not approved.