Alexander County's budget problems get 'worse and worse'

First National Bank in Cairo repossessed five vehicles from Alexander County, including these Sheriff patrol cars, Tuesday, September 22, 2009, because of nonpayment. (Kit Doyle) [Click to enlarge]

CAIRO, Ill. -- Financial woes that recently caused the sheriff's department in Alexander County to lose three-fourths of its personnel to layoffs have also created an outstanding debt the county owes to a Missouri hospital, according to Alexander County Coroner Willie Bingham.

Bingham said the Alexander County Coroner's office currently owes about $10,000 in autopsy fees to the Mineral Area Regional Medical Center in Farmington, Mo.

The debt further compounds budget problems for Alexander County, where 27 percent of the residents live below the poverty line and Sheriff David Barkett has been forced to rely on just four deputies to cover the more than 250-square-mile county.

Last week, Barkett lost five of six county-owned patrol cars to First National Bank of Cairo because the county had defaulted on their payments for the vehicles.

"It's just getting worse and worse," Bingham said of the county's budget problems.

As county coroner, Bingham is forced to send a body out for an autopsy each time he can't pinpoint the exact reason for a death. Mineral Area is the facility that generally conducts autopsies for local counties, including Cape Girardeau, and fees usually run about $1,750, Bingham said.

He said he fears there will come a point where he'll be unable to have an autopsy performed unless the debt is paid off.

"That's basically where I've got the bag over my head," Bingham said.

The county's general fund currently has about $30,000, and county board member Angela Greenwell said things have been in a "downward spiral" for decades.

The clerk's office has a new computer to store all of the county's registered voters and ballot results, but it sits unusable because the county has run up a $35,000 tab with the provider of the system and software, according to County Clerk Nancy Kline.

An amount of $50,000 was recently transferred by a judge to the county's general fund from the court system, giving them enough money to pay what was owed to four of the deputies recently laid off, Greenwell said.

Alexander County also owes about $86,000 to Tri-County Jail in Ullin, Ill., for costs associated with housing prisoners, Greenwell said.

With such limited staffing, Barkett has been taking emergency measures to keep the county safe, including an appeal last week to state and federal officials in Springfield, Ill., for donated vehicles.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.