With five and a half months left in the fiscal year, some magistrates are concerned the Clark County Detention Center is overspending its budget.

Wednesday, the Clark County Fiscal Court voted 5-2 to approve an order requiring Clark County Jailer Frank Doyle, Clark County Judge-Executive Chris Pace and county treasurer Jerry Madden to consult and “prepare a budget amendment” to bring expenditures in line with projected revenues.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Magistrate Greg Elkins proposed the order, which claims revenue was over-projected by $432,268.14 and expenses were $312,109.50 above budget. Elkins also said the jail had already transferred the full amount of county funds budgeted for fiscal year 2019-20. The court approved another transfer to the jail Wednesday, which brought the total to $707,219 for the fiscal year.

“I recommended the order because my concern for the budget issues at the jail,” Elkins said. “Every penny including today’s (transfer) is an over-budgeted item.”

Magistrates Robert Blanton and Travis Thompson voted against the order.

Elkins said he did not know how much it would take to bring expenses and revenue in line.

“It could be none or as much as … $200,000 or $300,000,” he said. “It just depends on the amount of revenue the jail is able to budget.”

Following the meeting, Clark County Jailer Frank Doyle and Chief Deputy Justin Crockett said the jail’s expenses and transfers are comparable to this time a year ago.

At this point in 2019, Crockett said the county had transferred $672,392 into the jail fund. So far this year, $642,219 has been transferred from the county.

The transfer approved Wednesday was necessary to meet payroll.

“The jail’s not in trouble,” Doyle said.

Crockett said the jail ended fiscal year 2019 with a $21,000 surplus, and similar discussions have happened in January each of the last three years.

“We’re cutting expenses every day,” Crockett said. “Will it be hard the next six months? Yes, but it’s always hard the last six months. We always succeed at the end. Every year we’ve carried (money) over.”

Doyle and Crockett said the jail lost about $96,000 in revenue from state prisoners in the summer when an air conditioning unit broke, and the state prisoners had to be relocated. Repairs cost about $28,000.

The fiscal court also cut about $152,000 from the jail’s budget in May.

“Had the original budget proposed by the jailer been approved, we wouldn’t have that problem,” Crockett said. “It was the people who created a new budget for us who over estimated.”

The fiscal court also recently voted to cut $243,000 from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office budget in 2020. Magistrates said the cuts would not take effect until the new fiscal year begins July 1, but Sheriff Berl Perdue Jr. said his office would not be able to maintain around-the-clock patrols and staff if the cuts are implemented.

In other action, the court:

— noted training incentive payments to Doyle and Magistrate Daniel Konstantopoulos.

— appointed B.J. Wasson to the Winchester-Clark County Parks and Recreation Board.

— appointed Dawn Alvarado and Paul Richardson to the Winchester-Clark County Heritage Commission.