Don't count on doling out any more money from the county's half-percent sales tax - the well is nearly dry.

That was the message last week from the Lawrence County Auditor's Office to the Lawrence County Commission.

The memo from Chief Deputy Auditor Chris Kline was in response to a suggestion from Lawrence County Sheriff Tim Sexton that perhaps the commission could add money to his budget with monies from the sales tax fund, also known as the emergency services fund.

"The certification of revenue for the half-cent sales tax for this year is only $2 million, which means the county is planning on spending $184,240 more than will be generated this year. This is possible due to the carryover of $334,910, but as you can see this practice can not be continued," Kline wrote in his memo.

According to auditor's office figures, 911 operations will take $455,200, the Lawrence County Emergency Management Agency's share of the pie is $261,500, emergency services (SEOEMS) will take $1,467,540.

Earlier this month, commissioners issued a spreadsheet showing what offices would run out of money before the end of the year. The sheriff's office salaries line items was projected to run out of money by early September. Sexton said his office had been seriously underfunded and he hoped the commission could adjust his budget with half-percent sales tax monies.

Finances were a much-discussed topic at Thursday's county commission meeting.

The commissioners agreed to take Duke Energy's annual allotment to the county, approximately $95,000 a year, and earmark it for an economic development fund. Monies paid to the Ironton-Lawrence County Community Action Organization and the Lawrence Economic Development Corporation could be paid out of this account. Such a fund had been promoted by Commissioner Doug Malone when he ran for election three years ago.

Commissioner Jason Stephens suggested that the commission ask the auditor's office if employees' paychecks could be direct deposited into their personal checking accounts.

"It could probably save us some money and time," Stephens said.