In a three-hour work session Friday, members of the Carroll County Board of Commissioners tackled the proposed 2009-2010 budget line by line after Chairman Bill Chappell chastised them for not voicing their concerns earlier and walked out of the meeting.

Chappell said he was not going to sit and consider budget changes “at the last minute,” after he’d already spent hours hammering out a budget with the county’s comptroller, Don Johnson. The county’s fiscal year ends on June 30 and a new budget must be in place by July 1.

At a special meeting on Tuesday, June 9, the board had voted to reject Chappell’s budget by a 5-2 margin, with Commissioner John Wilson joining Chappell in support of the budget. The board requested a work session for Friday to address their concerns which Chappell attended, but only briefly.

“I presented a balanced budget, as required by state law,” Chappell told the board Friday. “Don Johnson and I spent hundreds of hours on it. If the board now has questions and wants to hold this meeting, that is their right. In my opinion, it should have been done months ago.”

Chappell said a special meeting would be called for Tuesday at 5 p.m. and conceded that board members “have a bloc of votes” to defeat his budget, which will be the only item on Tuesday’s agenda, along with a budget resolution. That resolution includes language that specifically approves the chairman’s controversial decision to eliminate the positions of the fire chief and the E-911 director and combine those departments under a new director of emergency services.

“Or, you can vote to amend the agenda and propose a different budget,” he told the board. “My presence (at Tuesday’s work session) is probably not needed.”

With that, he turned the meeting over to Commissioner Vicki Anderson, who is vice chair.

“But I have a bunch of questions for you Mr. Chairman,” Commissioner Kevin Jackson said.

Chappell would hear none of them. “I object to that,” he said. “If you had questions, I would have gladly answered them. I’ve been available for two months. You chose to wait ’til the last minute. You had ample time to question everything.”

Jackson said he tried to meet with the chairman “but I was shown the door.”

Chappell said that was because Jackson didn’t have an appointment.

“You bust in on me, and in the future that will not be tolerated. If you want to see me, Mr. Jackson, you make an appointment,” Chappell said. “So, with that said, ya’ll have at it.”

Chappell then walked out of the building. And commissioners Jackson, Anderson, Ashley Hendrix and George Chambers got down to work, scrutinizing every department’s expenses as proposed by Chappell. Wilson, who supports Chappell’s proposed budget, was not present Friday. Commissioner Trent North was also absent due to a prior commitment.

The board changed the E-911 and Fire Department budgets to reflect the re-hiring of a fire chief and a E-911 director, while eliminating the salary Chappell had created for a new director of emergency services. They came up with their own balanced budget, which increases the amount in the contingency fund by approximately $66,000. Like Chappell’s version, the board’s budget calls for no tax increases, no raises for county employees and a 10 percent increase in health insurance costs.

Chappell had split the $80,000 salary for the proposed new emergency services director between two departments, with half coming from the Fire Department and half from E-911, Johnson said. These $40,000 line items were scratched from the two departments under the board’s budget.

The board also whacked the full-time grant writer’s position that Chappell had created at $77,500 per year and offered to the former fire chief, Gary Thomas. The board also cut $14,000 in travel expenses associated with the grant writer’s position.

The board added $15,000 into the budget for possible consultations with a constitutional lawyer on how to go about changing the county charter to reflect the board’s desire to clarify and possibly rein in the powers of the chairman.

The board also questioned the 18.4 percent increase in the parks and recreation budget as proposed by Chappell. Johnson said many new programs were being offered under the new director, which will require more temporary workers. One line item in particular, for dues and subscriptions, stood out at $4,600, up from $150 the previous year. Also, Chappell had proposed to double the recreation department’s travel expenses from $6,000 to $12,000.

“I think the dues are excessive,” Hendrix said. “I think the travel is excessive.”

The board agreed to get more information on these items before Tuesday’s special meeting to approve the final budget.

Johnson said he will be working over the weekend to punch in the new numbers for the board’s proposed budget.

“I’m sorry you have to do that,” Hendrix said. “But we asked the chairman for a work session earlier and he wouldn’t do it.”

Chappell opted instead for private meetings with individual commissioners, she said. “The way I see it, why not do this out in the open?”

As for Tuesday's special meeting, Jackson said “there are likely to be two budgets proposed. You’ll just have to come Tuesday to find out which one gets adopted.”