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County formally adopts 2017 budget
As the clock in the county courthouse stuck 10 a.m., Vernon County Clerk Mike Buehler, began the reading of the formal budget message, containing the revenues and expenditures for the various portions of the county's 2017 budget.
Following the reading of the revenues and expenditures for the six funds, Vernon County Presiding Commissioner Joe Hardin, asked for a motion to approve the budget as read.
"I so move," said northern district commissioner, Cindy Thompson.
With a roll call vote, the budget was adopted unanimously.
Hardin directed Buehler to submit the budget in the required electronic and paper copies to the state prior to the end of the month.
Asked for highlights and comments, Thompson began by stating, "For me, it's been a good learning process." She quickly added, "I appreciate the cooperation of all the county office holders. I know that it's not that way in every Missouri county."
Commented southern district commissioner, Everett Wolfe, for whom this was his fifth budget, "It went pretty smooth. Joe [Hardin] did a heck of a job, as did Eric [Sommers] in the clerk's office."
Sommers is responsible for all billing and receipts for county vendors; he put together the several hundred pages of revenues and expenditures for each office and fund.
Hardin reviewed several highlights the budget hopes to bring this year.
"All non-elected employees are receiving a cost of living increase of 2 percent and we are maintaining the employee contribution to the county health plan," said Hardin.
Asked about elected officials the presiding commissioner said, "They are not receiving a cost of living increase." To which Hardin added, "Having spoken with all of them personally, I want to thank them for their understanding and cooperation not only about there being no raise for them but in keeping the requests for their office limited to just what they need in order to serve the people of this county."
Asked for further specifics, Hardin named five projects.
"Knowing how long it takes for state and federal funding to work and the engineers and Missouri's Department of Transportation to agree and sign off on specifications, they may not both happen this year, but we have budgeted for the construction of two good sized bridges," began Hardin.
The budget also includes the purchase of a 16 to 18 ton dump truck to replace the smaller one currently owned by the county.
"The present one has a single axle while the one we hope to buy will have two rear axles," explained Wolfe. "We're looking for one that's in pretty good shape and will run about $50,000."
Wolfe reiterated how the county saves so much time when it has good equipment of its own.
"And time is money," added Wolfe. "We build more bridges and install more culverts than most other counties in the state and we do it far cheaper and faster than if we bid it out to contractors."
The third project Hardin named will be the restoration of Katy Allen Lake.
As the budget sheet read by Buehler states, "the estimated revenues including cash available at year end [2016] is $100,580."
These funds were sourced from grants by 3M and Archers Daniel, Midland along with local business and personal donations.
There will be some dredging of the lake, restoration of the dam, closing of one of the two spillways, relocation of an unused metal county bridge to serve as a pedestrian walkway at one end of the lake and a path around the lake.
Further work at the lake may be funded by a grant the county intends to apply for later in the year.
Another project funded by grants will be work on the courthouse's foundation and drainage as well as the stonework at each entrance.
The matching funds for this project will come from the county's Capital Improvement Fund. Started in 2015, the fund will have $490,000 in 2017, which can be used for existing capital projects as well as future needs.
"Whenever a group is short on funds, it's common for the first thing to be put off is routine maintenance," pointed out Hardin. "And with this fund, we're trying to get back on track with the courthouse, other facilities and equipment."
"This budget is continuing our commitment to restore the level of County Aid Road Trust funds to the townships," said Hardin.
CART funds come from a portion of the state tax on each gallon of gasoline. Begun in 1961, this was Missouri's first form of revenue sharing with its counties.
Some years ago, the level of funding to each of the 20 townships had reached $10,000. But as explained by Hardin, the townships received funds in the form of two $5,000 grants, one at the start of the year and the other midyear.
"But some of the townships hadn't spent their first grant by midyear and so the second one was delayed, which meant many of them didn't use up their funds by year's end and so the following year, some townships only received their second grant from the previous year," Hardin explained.
The commission has set as a goal, the restoration of CART funds to the $10,000 level for each township.
"What we've made clear is we will increase funds to the townships by $500 per year until we reach the target but this requires each township, not just to spend the funds but maintain the roads we need in this county," added Hardin."
The 2017 budget will bring township CART funding up to $9,000.
Buehler began his formal reading of the budget by stating the amount the county carried over from 2016 totaled, $532,979.13.
The General Fund is estimated to bring in $4,295,670.21 with expenses projected at $4,766,910.15. Of that amount, the sheriff's office and jail operations will make up $2,030,026.09.
The Emergency Fund, which by state statute must be 3 percent of total revenue is projected to be $128,870.11.
The Road and Bridge Fund is estimated to have $2,419,576.48 to work with on the revenue side and total projected expenditures of $2,313,744.22 including $180,000 in CART funds, $250,000 for county built bridges, $102,500 for construction equipment, and $1,038,210.99 for federal bridge projects.
While the Assessment Fund is partially funded by the state, extra expenses are fulfilled by the General Fund. Total revenues are estimated at $295,171.78 while expenses are estimated at $310,494.63.
The Capital Improvement Fund will receive a transfer from the General Fund in the amount of $90,000, which will then have a balance of $490,000.
Concluded Hardin, "While the three of us on the commission have worked closely with each county office, this budget is really about the folks who sent us here. This isn't our money and it's not our work. We're here to serve and this budget is an outline of what we hope to get done this year."