BUDGET HEARING FOR CAPE COUNTY TODAY

JACKSON - Cape Girardeau County commissioners are expected to approve a 1992 budget today, following a required public hearing and the annual budget message from Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep.

County Commission members and Auditor H. Weldon Macke have fine tuned the proposed budget during the past two months in reaction to Huckstep's admonition that the current tight economy be reflected by a frugal budget.

Huckstep, who serves as Cape County's budget officer, will deliver his 14th budget message as part of Monday's 11 a.m. public hearing. The hearing will be held in the county commission's chambers in the administration building at Jackson.

The 1992 budget for Cape County's general revenue fund is about $5.6 million, an increase of almost 3 percent from last year.

The primary source of revenue for the general budget is a half-cent sales tax, which increased only 0.2 percent last year. The sales tax is expected to account for about $3 million of the `92 budget.

Fees and receipts from other sources, including reimbursements from other governmental entities, will account for almost $1.2 million. The remainder of the budget consists of a $1.3 million balance carried over from last year.

A shortfall of about $200,000 in the county's $1.7 million road and bridge budget will be made up by a transfer from the Capital Trust Account. The road and bridge budget is funded primarily by a 23-cent property tax.

Increased prices for fuel, repairs, insurance and materials during 1991 was blamed for the shortfall.

Other major expenditures for the highway department, including major equipment purchases and construction of large bridges, will be funded from the Capital Trust Account.

The county's capital account grew by almost $500,000 in 1991. The account has been used over the years to fund a number of bridges, major equipment purchases, some land acquisition, and construction of the county's administration building.

The account's balance Dec. 31 was $2.6 million. At the end of 1991, $300,000 in surplus funds from county general revenue was transferred to the account.

The Capital Trust Account this year likely will be used to help fund an addition to the county jail for female prisoners and complete several major bridges around the county.

The county commission also has earmarked $500,000 to match any federal bridge replacement money that might be available.

In 1991, the Cape County road and bridge fund budget was $1.7 million, but expenditures totalled only $1.3 million. Cape County's general revenue budget for 1991 was $5.4 million, while actual expenditures were $4.5 million.