By Jason C. Mattox

A question over the county’s twice-a-month payroll that affected a  new hire was raised by Narcotics Task Force commander Jason Chrestman when Panola’s Board of Supervisors met Tuesday morning in Sardis.

Chrestman, whose agency is partially funded by a grant, said he was worried that the two-week withholding could cause the county to lose repayment.

“The way this works is, we submit all of our paperwork to a grant monitor, and they reimburse the county,” he said. “If we are going to have to put two weeks of one month and two weeks of another together, that might cause us to lose out on two weeks’ worth of reimbursement.”

Chancery Clerk Jim Pitcock said the county could not legally pay for work that has not been performed. He later explained that the payroll period ending time and processing time would have the county writing checks for work yet to be performed, an act the Mississippi Department of Audit frowns upon.

“We always hold back two weeks of pay on any new hire, and they will get that money back if and when they leave the position,” he said.

Pitcock said one reason for the delay is the three days processing required by the bank for the county’s payroll.

Chrestman said the county would have to submit a letter to the grant monitor stating what weeks are worked each month.

Pitcock said he would issue a form letter and received permission from the supervisors to put the letter into the meeting’s minutes.

“That way, all he will have to do is send them the letter each month,” he said.

In other board business:

•    Supervisors approved the removal of late fees from Earl Burdette’s garbage bill. Burdette was on active military duty when the late fees occurred.

•    Lee Stevens was hired as a part-time jailer at $10 an hour.

•    Supervisors approved a $2 assessment on misdemeanor offenses to go to Crime Stoppers to help fund any future rewards offered.

•    Supervisors will meet next Monday at 10:30 a.m. at the Batesville Courthouse to adopt the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.