Hayes says citizens can’t afford more taxes

If a 2-mill levy for EMS services were voted in, it would generate $1,889,850 annually throughout the life of the levy.

Those were the figures from the county auditor’s office, following a request from the Lawrence County Commissioners on how much such a levy would generate. The proposal would give the EMS a designated amount of funding each year while freeing up the general fund money now going there for the sheriff.

The commission, which met Thursday evening with the Concerned Citizens of Burlington, received and filed that information, taking no other action.

The sheriff continues to face overcrowding in the jail as the state is still restricting the number of inmates allowed to be housed at the Fifth Street facility. Any census above the 52 prisoners allowed is being housed out of county.

However, at least one commissioner apparently has no intention of putting any kind of tax levy on any ballot, while he is in office.

“People can’t afford to pay out of their wallets,” Freddie Hayes Jr. said. “People are not able to pay taxes. The jail situation is not going to get better. It will get worse. We give (the sheriff) everything possible we can give him.”

Commissioner Bill Pratt said the county is being hamstrung by the state regulations.

“The way the state thinks is not how we can manage,” Pratt said. “They want to tell us how we can manage our county jail. If we have to double bunk, we’ve done it for years.”

The figures from the 2-mill levy were calculated on $1,038,861,530 property value at a 90 percent collection rate, or $944,930,421. Of that, $96,304,690 is agriculture; $634,874,420 is residential; $545,970 mineral; $18,988,720 industrial, $89,046,860 commercial and $199,100,870 public utility.

“This situation has been going on for a decade with the jail,” Lawrence County Sheriff Jeff Lawless said. “They are right, it is not getting better. Ignoring the problem is not going to solve the issue. The fact of the matter is we have laws we have to follow in operating this facility. I have to manage it in the proper way I am able to. We can not step backwards and house multitude of prisoners the way we used to.”

In other action the commissioners:

• Appointed Ironton Mayor Katrina Keith to the Lawrence County Port Authority to replace Paul Woods, who moved out of state;

• Changed the status of Joseph McMaster from part-time to full-time EMT;

• Changed the status of paramedic Jeremy Wrenn from full-time to part-time.