BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — The Martin County Fiscal Court adopted an $11.3 million budget for the 2026 fiscal year during a June 18 special meeting.
“It’s essentially the same budget that we had last year,” Judge/Executive Lon Lafferty said. “We wanted to be able to provide raises for our folks, but, unfortunately, we’re not there at this point. There is one position [code enforcement officer] that goes from $13 to $14 per hour. That’s the only increase.”
The budget summary accounts for the following funds:
- General – $1,829,854.99
- Road – $1,839,442.41
- Jail – $598,135.57
- LGEA – $1,448,950
- State – $11,100
- Federal Grant – $765,500
- Solid Waste – $111,200
- Occupational Tax – $1,194,000
- LGEDF – $1,214,400
- Opioid Settlement – $352,500
- HUD – $289,100
- 911 – $504,200
- HUD – $6,125
- Document Storage – $27,050
- ARPA – $151,000
Magistrate Tracy Spence made the motion to adopt the budget and Magistrate Ronald Workman made the second. With no discussion, those two, along with Magistrates Junior Hunt, Kermit Howell and Cody Slone, voted unanimously to adopt the budget.
It goes into effect with the start of the 2026 fiscal year on July 1.
The budget summary is in the public notice section of this week’s newspaper. The full budget is available to the public in the judge’s office.
Lafferty announced the hiring of John Horn as the county swimming pool manager at $14 per hour. He also announced the county would hire Max Johnson as a lifeguard at $10 per hour. The Big Sandy Area Community Action Program agreed to pay for 14 of 15 lifeguards.
Magistrates also approved:
- A $4,321.50 asphalt milling contract with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. The county will purchase 250 tons of milling at $15.83 per ton and $1.42 for handling per ton.
- The claims list of $1,885,684.58, including a $1,287,447.58 pass-through grant for Martin County Water District and $49,500 to the Martin County Economic Development Authority for the purchase of a building in downtown Inez.
- Advertising for bids for gravel for 2026
- Martin County Soil Conservation District’s budget and report. (See the related story in this edition.)