Draft budget includes no funding to boost county workers’ wages

Discussion

November 17, 2009

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Tue Nov 17, 2009, 09:05 PM CST

By Susan Redden

sredden@joplinglobe.com

CARTHAGE, Mo. — For the second year in a row, the Jasper County Commission appears headed toward adoption of a budget that does not hold any pay boosts for most county workers.

Richard Webster, county auditor, said at a budget hearing Tuesday that he will not allocate money for salary increases in the 2010 budget. Preliminary budget estimates project that revenues in the general fund will fall $1.2 million short of spending, and Webster said county reserves may not be sufficient to balance the plan.

But again next year, the wage freeze may not apply to workers in the Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Archie Dunn cited a multiyear pay plan in increasing his workers’ wages this year. His response was “no comment” when he was asked Tuesday if he plans to increase workers’ wages next year.

Sales tax

Voters in 2005 approved a quarter-cent sales tax for law enforcement that supplements county law enforcement budgets. Funding for salaries in the law enforcement sales tax budget is estimated at nearly $1.9 million next year, compared with about $1.5 million this year. Dunn plans to take back the emergency dispatching program now contracted to the Jasper County Emergency Services Board, and some of that funding increase is for new dispatchers, the sheriff said.

The sheriff said Tuesday that he still is considering whether to place his dispatchers at the 911 center or establish his own dispatch operation at the county detention center. Dunn said his plan budgets the full county contract for dispatching at $110,668, because he does not know how long it will take to get department dispatchers hired and trained.

The proposed budget currently does not allocate any funding for new dispatching equipment, but Dunn noted “there still is time to modify it, if I decide to.”

Some exceptions

Webster said he is allowing salary increases based on changes in state classifications for two workers in juvenile court and for one position in the health department.

Though most county workers got no raises this year, Webster told the commission that some officeholders did increase their workers’ pay by reducing spending elsewhere or because their departments had a revenue source separate from the general fund.

“Once the money is budgeted, they can spend it the way they want,” he said. “But other departments don’t have that luxury, so it makes it difficult.”

Webster said spending on behalf of county workers will be up next year, because the county will cover an 8 percent increase in health insurance costs and an increase of at least 9 percent in retirement costs. Those expenses, plus paying for the primary and general elections, account for a significant share of higher spending, he said.

The county also will allocate $100,000 to cover expenses in the assessor’s office, since the state cut its support for that operation by 33 percent.

As proposed Tuesday, the general fund budget estimates spending at $16.5 million, compared with $15.7 million for this year.

Search for cuts

Webster and the commission will be meeting in coming weeks to look for areas where expenditures can be trimmed. Webster said that if there is no other choice, he will recommend that the commission balance the general revenue budget by spending some of the nearly $1 million that has been set aside for emergencies.

“I don’t want to; we’re trying to hold on to that in case we encounter a major building problem,” he said.

Currently, beginning reserves are estimated at $750,000 for the general fund, $1.5 million in the law enforcement sales tax fund, and $3 million in the road and bridge fund.

The commission has asked the sheriff to cover, from the sales tax fund, an additional $300,000 in law enforcement expenses now paid for by general revenues. Thus far, the sheriff has agreed to pick up about $60,000 in additional spending, Webster said.

Final budgets must be adopted by Jan. 10.

Salary commission

Elected officials who compose the county’s salary commission voted Tuesday to award cost-of-living increases, based on similar increases given to general county workers, to county officeholders starting in 2011.

Text Only

Carthage, Jasper County

Carthage attorney, reformer of revenue department, dies
James R. Spradling, a Carthage attorney who was noted for his reform of the Missouri Department of Revenue in the 1970s, died at 5:50 a.m. Monday at McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital.

August 9, 2010 1 Photo
Bondswoman charged with false imprisonment
A bail bondswoman from Carthage is facing a charge of false imprisonment for allegedly attempting to put a man in jail without a judge’s order, then taking him home and handcuffing him to the banister of a staircase until a friend of the man paid her his bond money.

January 4, 2012
Man’s last statement to be given to defendant
A judge ruled Monday that the Jasper County prosecutor must provide attorneys for Darren J. Winans with a videotaped statement co-defendant Matthew D. Laurin made about the Sheldon murders shortly before killing himself.

August 23, 2010
Carthage proposes 1.6-cent rise in city property tax
A drop in the assessed value of Carthage real estate will translate to an increase of about 1.6 cents in the city’s proposed property tax rate.

August 9, 2010
Open house to celebrate projects at courthouse
Projects completed last year at the Jasper County Courthouse will be celebrated in ceremonies Thursday in the courthouse lobby.
County officials will join representatives of local chambers of commerce and others for a ribbon-cutting and open house to mark the opening of a Route 66 display in the lobby and a new “peace star” atop the building.

May 9, 2010
State budget cuts reduce county funds
County officials are bracing for more state budget cuts to translate into a loss of county revenues.
In an effort to balance Missouri’s budget, the state earlier this year cut the amount it reimburses county assessors for work to determine property values. The budget approved by lawmakers for fiscal 2011 calls for cutting the amount the state reimburses counties to house prisoners bound for state lockup.

May 9, 2010 1 Photo
Jo Ellis: County home to rare yellowwood tree
In late spring, drifts as white as snow fill the gutters and curbs on the east side of the Jasper County Courthouse. It isn’t snow, of course; it’s the fallen petals of the yellowwood tree that grows squarely in front of the door to the Jasper County Extension office.

May 9, 2010
Jasper County Commission gets building project update
Plans to close out one building project and start another were reviewed by the Jasper County Commission last week.
Darieus Adams, Western District associate commissioner, met Thursday with officials of the firm who designed a $292,400 project to upgrade the lighting and make other changes to make four county-owned buildings more energy efficient.

May 8, 2010
Two men running for associate judge in 39th Circuit take case to court
Two men running for associate judge in Missouri’s 39th Circuit began battling it out in a Jasper County courtroom this week.
Jasper County Circuit Judge Gayle Crane heard arguments Wednesday concerning the disclosure of documents sought by Robert “Bobby” George, Aurora, the current Lawrence County prosecutor.

May 7, 2010
Unveiling ceremony celebrates CHS tiger
Kandy Frazier, Carthage High School principal, summed it up once the new addition to the CHS campus was unveiled Thursday.
The bronze tiger sculpture created by Carthage artist and sculptor Bob Tommey, she said, is the kind of work that would be found at a big university.

May 6, 2010 1 Photo
More Carthage, Jasper County Headlines

Water company cites reconnections

Carthage, Jasper County

Search Results

Discussion

Draft budget includes no funding to boost county workers’ wages

Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr wants the city to distribute weather radios to all Joplin homes that don’t have one. That’s 11,000 radios. Do you think that’s a good use of $300,440?

Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr wants the city to distribute weather radios to all Joplin homes that don’t have one. That’s 11,000 radios. Do you think that’s a good use of $300,440?

Site Map

Contact Us