By Derek Spellman

dspellman@joplinglobe.com

A proposal to make the McDonald County prosecutor’s office full time and a pair of bond issues for the communities of Diamond and Lanagan will come before voters Tuesday.

McDonald County’s electorate will be asked to make the prosecutor’s position full time and to raise the prosecutor’s salary from $53,000 to $106,000, according to County Clerk Barbara Williams. The measure requires a simple majority vote for passage. If approved, it would take effect in June 2011, Williams said.

The term of the current prosecutor, Janice Durbin, expires in January 2011.

“We cannot vote ourselves a raise,” Williams said.

A phone message left for Durbin last week at her office was not returned. A home phone number listed for her is no longer in service, according to an automated recording.

Ronnie Walker, McDonald County Western District commissioner, said he spearheaded the push to get the proposal on the ballot. Walker took office in January of this year.

Walker has cited the office’s growing caseload and the county’s growing population as key reasons for making the position full time.

The prosecutor’s caseload has increased from 802 cases in 1991 to 1,874 last year, he said.

As for the county population, that increased from 21,681 in 2000 to an estimated 22,731 in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The population was 16,938 in 1990.

“We’ve got a lot more people, and it’s growing every day,” Walker said.

The prosecutor’s position, though, has not kept pace, the commissioner said.

That makes its difficult not just to attract but also to retain experienced prosecutors.

“That is our main goal in doing this really,” Walker said.

The budget for the prosecutor’s office is largely drawn from the county’s law enforcement sales tax, although the county’s general revenue fund also supplements those funds, Walker said. The salary increase would be paid for by those funds.

Williams, the county clerk, acknowledged that the county as a whole has experienced a budget crunch.

“The county is in economic difficulties,” she said. “We hope that by 2011 that is relieved.”

Walker said he is confident that the county’s finances will have rebounded by then. He said there are already encouraging signs: The county budget this year assumed a 15 percent decline in revenue from last year. So far, revenue is 10.6 percent lower than last year’s.

Walker was asked about the prospect of more money flowing to a prosecutor’s office that earlier this month was criticized by state auditors for accounting procedures, largely during calendar years 2006 and 2007. Other county offices, including the commission, also were criticized.

In the prosecutor’s office, receipt slips were not always issued or recorded in the electronic system, which poses the potential for improper money handling, according to the audit.

Accounting responsibilities were not properly segregated, the audit said. The former office manager took care of receiving, recording, depositing and disbursing money, as well as reconciling bank accounts, according to the audit.

Walker countered that the audit also showed the corrective steps the county took.

“We’ve corrected those things,” he said. “The auditors were completely satisfied with our responses. Everything is fine.”

Lanagan

Also in McDonald County, voters in Lanagan will vote on whether to issue $100,000 in revenue bonds to finance construction of a new waterline from Anderson to supply Lanagan. That water supply would supplement the city’s own water supply from the city’s own well.

The total project is to be about $1.8 million, with the bulk of the cost to be paid with grants that the city is seeking, according to Jimmie Gideon, Lanagan’s public works director.

Gideon said many of the grants require the city to have some local ballot initiative to help it qualify for the additional funding. If the city doesn’t land the grant money, the project will not go forward, he said.

Gideon said Lanagan residents would not see a water rate increase to pay for the revenue bonds. He said he will cut out money from the existing budget — which annually is about $97,000 — to pay for the bonds.

He cited reducing electricity costs as one way to free up money. The city would pay off the debt over 10 years.

“There is going to be no water rate increase,” he vowed. “Everything is going to be out of the existing budget.”

He estimated that the average water bill is between $45 and $50 a month.

The measure requires a simply majority for approval.

Diamond

In Newton County, residents of Diamond will be voting on a $650,000 revenue bond issue that would be used to enlarge the city’s sewage holding lagoon and to replace about 1,800 feet of 8-inch sewer line with a new 15-inch sewer line, according to Mayor Steve Carter.

“DNR (the Department of Natural Resources) has mandated this has to be done to get in compliance,” Carter said.

The work would keep the lagoon from overflowing, the mayor said, while the line needs to be enlarged so it can handle runoff from heavy rains.

Carter said the average sewer bill, assuming 5,000 gallons of usage, is currently $16.50 per month. He estimated that the bond issue would increase the rate to $21 per month, although he said that figure was “on the high side.”

The proposal needs a simple majority for passage.