By Debby Woodin

dwoodin@joplinglobe.com

Cities and counties are pinched from a year of sales tax decline, some more than others, but they are trying to keep residents from feeling the pain too much by spending reserves, cutting nonessential services and trimming employee pay.

Joplin, down about 5 percent, or $1.6 million, on its combined five city sales taxes, began belt tightening early in the year when City Manager Mark Rohr directed department heads to cut their department budgets by 2 percent. Later in the year, he took additional steps to curb city spending.

Neosho has had to take more serious steps to meet the challenge of declining revenue. There were layoffs early this month, the first month of the town’s fiscal year, and pay cuts for city employees.

Neosho residents will see the budget strain in some reduced services, most markedly in street work and cancellation of the city’s usually routine leaf-pickup program, said Bob Blackwood, the city’s finance director.

Those actions worry some residents.

“I think the employees are doing the best they can in a bad situation, a bad economy,” said Neosho resident Rhonda Warren, who serves as a volunteer on the city’s parks advisory board. “I would say that it would be much better if residents had more input in what services are reduced or discontinued in times like this. I don’t think those decisions should just be made by employees.”

Though employees of Jasper County have not had to take pay cuts, there may be little or no money for raises for next year, though the county is waiting on all the budget figures to come in and has not made a final decision, said Richard Webster, the county auditor. He said he does not see that any services to residents will be cut.

Newton County officials say they will not have to cut services either, but the county will dip into contingency money it has built into its budget that is reserved for covering emergencies to cover its sales tax shortfall.

Joplin

Joplin’s fiscal year ends Saturday, and it has received its last sales tax payment of that fiscal year.

Reports generated by the city’s finance department show that the year’s receipts for the 1-cent general fund tax were $11.74 million, down from $12.34 million for the previous fiscal year. The city had projected receipts of $12.6 million, an increase of 2 percent over 2008’s total.

Joplin was luckier than some, said city Finance Director Leslie Jones.

“We still provided all the services to residents,” she said. “We didn’t cut services and we didn’t lay off people, so we didn’t have to do what others had to do.”