Thursday, June 10, 2010 8:42 pm

During a meeting Thursday night at the courthouse, members of the Cannon County Commission's Budget Committee considered funding requests from two local agencies.

One is the Cannon County Senior Center, which the committee decided at a previous meeting not to fund at the level it requested.

The Senior Center has indicated in a letter to both the Cannon County Commission and the Woodbury Board of Mayor and Alderman that services it provides to local seniors will have to be reduced if funding requests they have made to both entities are reduced.

The letter states that "the following cuts will occur in the Senior Center budget due to less funds of $8500 from the County and $5000 from the City in our 2010-2011 requests. The Senior Center will be moving to a Level III Center which currently provides 44% of the counties senior population services.

"Upon recommendations from Upper Cumberland Development District and State Aging Department the center will increase the services to Cannon County, which was the reason for the $15,000 County and $10,000 City request. The following are programs we are proposing to cut:

• $4000 cut from the Newsletters printing, postage to members. No newsletters will be printed or sent out in 2010-2011.

• $1300 cut of home bound meals once a week to five seniors.

• $2340 cut of volunteer’s gas stipends for 13 volunteers that see over 40 seniors in home each month.

• $2860 cuts of programming such as birthday parties, bingo, health education, soup day, volunteer appreciation day.

• $1000 cut in Arts program.

• $2000 cut in Maintenance to building which included work on parking lot and front door."

The committee also heard from the Cannon County Chamber of Commerce, which is seeking funding in the amount of $3,000 for fiscal year 2010-2011 — up from $50 this year.

As things stand now, the county would have to dip into the county's reserves $631,111 to fund next year's budget, leaving a fund balance at the end of 2010-2011 of $378,406.

Also under consideration is a three percent pay raise for county employees. The committee learned that an increase in that amount would cost $136,000 annually.

The committee also reviewed the budget's for solid waste and debt service Thursday. They will meet again next week with the schools and highway department budgets tentatively on the agenda.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Thanks to budget committee member Greg Mitchell for providing the notes for this report, as the budget meeting was taking place at the same time the Cannon County School Board was holding its regular monthly meeting at the courthouse.