- Oct 17, 2011
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Kirk paced back and forth, complaining he had not yet received a $75,000 payment from the fiscal court that should have been delivered in January. In addition, Kirk said his office is now required to pay for its own workers’ compensation insurance, retirement, and social security benefits. Those obligations, along with unemployment insurance and fringe benefits, add an additional $99,000 to his annual expenditures.
As a result, Kirk announced Monday he has temporarily ceased all law enforcement services provided by his office. He also laid off the office bookkeeper and limited office hours to 8 a.m. through noon on weekdays.
On Kirk’s personal Facebook page, he urged residents to “lock your doors, load your guns and get a biting, barking dog.”
Like many Eastern Kentucky counties, Pike County has seen a dramatic decline over the past five years in coal severance money. In fiscal year 2018, the county received $1.02 million from the Local Government Economic Assistance Fund, which returns a portion of state-collected mineral severance taxes to local governments. That’s down 82 percent from the $5.6 million it received in fiscal year 2012.
Meanwhile, Kirk said, his office is relying on faltering equipment as it struggles to make ends meet, and he soon expects to lose the one deputy he now employs.
“We made it because we run around with borrowed tires on our vehicles with the wires sticking out of them,” Kirk told the fiscal court. “We made it because we ran around with plugs in our tires, which is illegal to plug an emergency vehicle tire. But if you have no money, you make tough decisions, don’t you?”
No wonder them Duke boys keep getting away.
As a result, Kirk announced Monday he has temporarily ceased all law enforcement services provided by his office. He also laid off the office bookkeeper and limited office hours to 8 a.m. through noon on weekdays.
On Kirk’s personal Facebook page, he urged residents to “lock your doors, load your guns and get a biting, barking dog.”
Like many Eastern Kentucky counties, Pike County has seen a dramatic decline over the past five years in coal severance money. In fiscal year 2018, the county received $1.02 million from the Local Government Economic Assistance Fund, which returns a portion of state-collected mineral severance taxes to local governments. That’s down 82 percent from the $5.6 million it received in fiscal year 2012.
Meanwhile, Kirk said, his office is relying on faltering equipment as it struggles to make ends meet, and he soon expects to lose the one deputy he now employs.
“We made it because we run around with borrowed tires on our vehicles with the wires sticking out of them,” Kirk told the fiscal court. “We made it because we ran around with plugs in our tires, which is illegal to plug an emergency vehicle tire. But if you have no money, you make tough decisions, don’t you?”
No wonder them Duke boys keep getting away.