Commission begins budget discussions with circuit court

By Afton Bugg

Nevada Daily Mail

Budget time is here for the County Commission. Every year the Commissioners meet with the Vernon County offices to discuss the budgets for next year.

The first meeting was held on Wednesday, Dec. 28, at 3 p.m. At this meeting, Commissioners met with Judge James Bickel and David Heumader to discuss the 28th Circuit Court district's budget.

They discussed budgets in the court reporter, circuit clerk, courts administration, and juvenile offices.

Representatives of the offices presented the 2006 fiscal year budget. Vernon County pays the expenses for the circuit and bills the other three counties that are in the 28th District -- Barton, Cedar and Dade -- for their proportionate share each month. Each county is prorated in the following manner: Barton County, 22.95 percent; Cedar County, 25.13 percent; Dade County, 14.50 percent; and Vernon County, 37.42 percent.

The court reporter's office budget was based on the 2005 budget.

One significant change brought to the attention of commissioners relates to salaries. Circuit judge, court administrator, and juvenile office salary budgets included funds for a juvenile office secretary in the past, but this year, no funds were budgeted for such a position. Court officials explained that's because the position is now a state paid position, and no budget is necessary.

Other expenses include a 4 percent increase in mileage, based on 2005 expenses; training to allow juvenile officers to attend the MJJA training sessions. The projected budget for this item is based on 2005 expenditures.

Other miscellaneous expenses budgeted include: a 1 percent increase in the cost of office supplies and no increase in telephone charges, based on 2005 expenditures. Officials do expect postage to be higher this year, and budgeted a 30 percent increase for 2006 based on projected increases in postage and changes in service of orders.

For equipment and furnishings, officials requested $1,200 for a printer in the office of the Circuit Judge and $300 for fax machines, for a total of $1,500, and requested funds budgeted for two chairs at a cost of $300 each; $723 was included for copy machine maintenance.

Probation services budgeted $7,000 to be used for the community service program and juvenile drug testing.

Grant funds budgeted at approved grant levels. Detention counseling and foster care costs are estimated and vary each year, and officials set the budget at $20,000 for 2006.

The five-year average for detention counseling is $23,310, and 2005 estimated expenses are $12,993.

Heumader noted that this figure can vary substantially from year to year, and said, "We had a good year last year. Our estimated expenses were lower than past years. In 2002 the budget was about $30,000. In 2003 the budget was about $24,000, and in 2005 it was about $12,000. I averaged all five years and projected the budget for 2006 to be about $20,000."

Heumader said, "We do not have a lot of control over the budgets, It is based on how many individuals are in the program, so I just average the years before to get the new year's budget."

There were no Circuit Court attorney fees in 2005, but the budget included $5,000 for 2006. This item is in the budget to pay the cost of an attorney should there be a dispute in the budget with the local county commissions.

The next scheduled budget meeting was at 10 a.m. today. For more information on any budget meeting call the commissioners office at (417) 448-2505.