2009 brought its fair share of financial hurdles and Coffee County was no exception.

News 4's Denise Bradberry spoke with county leaders Monday about what they were able to accomplish in 2009 and what they hope to be able to achieve in 2010.

In Coffee County, leaders were proud of their accomplishments in 09 and are keeping a tight grip on expenses for the future.

It's no secret that funding in Coffee County is tight.

The budget approved in September cut the county's reserve nearly in half and cut out cost of living raises for employees.

“Doing this budget this year with the lack of funds that we had was the hardest budget I’ve done since 2000 when I became a commissioner,” says Commission Chairman Jim Thompson.

Grants afforded the county several improvements.

$75,000 went to additions to the New Hope Senior Center, $9,000 bought additional equipment at the Sheriff's Office and they received $763,000 for road stabilization projects.

“We were able to resurface four county roads this year, which says a lot for Coffee County,” says Thompson.

They also installed a $1.3 million methane gas collection system at the landfill.

“We were able to sell carbon credits to another company that hopefully over three years will pay for it,” says Thompson.

They also took over the City of Enterprise's recycling program at the landfill, made it possible to make services and tax payments online and were able to hire a veteran’s service officer.

For the future, Thompson says lot of work and money will have to be spent on dirt roads.

“In 2010 we're going to have to look at harder is getting more grants. I don't know that the economy is going to turn around over night but if it doesn't I really don't know how we're going to balance our budget in 2010,” says Thompson.

“There’s a lot of things we'd like to accomplish but I think what we'll run into this year is making sure we stay financially sound. That's going to be our biggest goal. I think we're going to have to watch our expenses more than we have in the past,” says Commissioner Dean Smith.

So, the Coffee County Commission is expecting another year of watching that budget very closely.

Below is a list the Coffee County Commission’s action in fiscal year 2009.

- Addition to New Hope Senior Center with CDGB funding - $75,000
- Accepted donated helicopter for the Coffee County Sheriff Office
- Sheriff’s office received $9,127 from Bureau of Justice for additional equipment
- Installed a methane gas collection system at Coffee County Landfill
- Entered into an agreement to sell the carbon credits produced by the capture of methane gas – this will generate 10-20 year revenue stream
- Pursuing a waste-to-energy project at the Coffee County Landfill
- Entered into a long-term contract with Southeast Alabama Solid Waste Disposal Authority
- took over the recycling services of the City of Enterprise which allowed for expansion of the county material recovery program
- County is now taking payments for taxes and services over the web and by credit card
- Commission and local legislators were able to get the hiring freeze lifted at the state level in order to hire a full-time veteran’s service officer for the county
- Pursuing local legislation for a 6% lodging tax for Coffee County
- Negotiated with Centurylink to install a metro ethernet connection between New Brockton and the Elba courthouse to speed up the process when residents are searching property and other public records.
- Received approximately $763,000 in assistance for road stabilization projects
- Received approximately $300,000 in assistance for the flooding of roads in the Spring of 2009 and expect to receive approximately $300,000 for the most recent flooding
- Resurfaced four county roads in the amount of $1,426,000
- Striped 180 miles of centerline
- Placed 185 miles of raised pavement markers
- Ranked 2nd in State of Alabama on paved road inspections