Last week, the Baldwin County Commission held its final budget negotiations, with commissioners coming to an agreement on how to best allocate funds across the county for the coming 2016-2017 fiscal year.

Baldwin County Commission Chairman Tucker Dorsey said the coming year’s budget will be around $127 million.

“That number is actually significantly down from last year, but the aggregate number is kind of a false tell because last year’s numbers included a large amount of grant money and the FEMA money for highway repairs from the April 2014 rain event,” Dorsey said. “The real number is a rough $100 million.”

Dorsey said the coming year’s budget number was also lower than some previous years but that was due to county leaders trying to remain more fiscally conservative with the taxpayers’ dollars.

“In 2008, the budget was around $208 million, but there was a bond issue of $40 million that year for a lot of construction and other needs,” Dorsey said.

Dorsey said negotiations between the commission and the county’s department heads went well this year.

“It will be a solid budget year,” Dorsey said. “We are staying committed to pursuing economic development and bringing jobs to the county while still maintaining an aggressive program of making sure our roads are being paved and taken care of.”

Dorsey said merit-based raises will continue at the same rate for county employees and said he was particularly proud of being able to work in a request from the sheriff’s department for pay raises for the county’s sheriff deputies, corrections officers and dispatchers.

“It was around an additional $1 million to make that request happen, but making sure our law enforcement folks continue to be paid well is important,” Dorsey said. “It’s a quality of life issue – we want to keep our streets safe and our jail running smoothly, and this helps us accomplish that.”

In a post on social media, Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack said he was thankful for the commission’s actions.

“I will say having served as sheriff since 2007 today was one of the best days of my career working with the county commission,” Mack wrote. “My hat’s off to all four of my county commissioners who not only have the back of law enforcement in our county but have the utmost concern for all of our accounting as we move forward.”

Commissioners were also able to find the funds to help shore up some needs in the Baldwin County District Attorney’s office.

Incoming District Attorney Bob Wilters told commissioners he was facing increased cutbacks from the state with regards to his funding, adding there was “no interest in Montgomery for generating additional revenue.”

“I fully believe the state should be helping more with funding, but they more than likely aren’t going to do that,” Wilters said.

Wilters requested an additional $120,000 starting in January for the office, and commissioners were receptive to finding a way to help.

“I think you’ve got a lot of willingness to help because we know how important that office is helping to keep Baldwin County safe,” Commissioner Chris Elliott said.

The commission is exploring options to help meet that request and will likely have the funding sources in place before the new fiscal year begins in October.