Cape County budget review begins Thursday

Cape Girardeau County commissioners will review for the first time Thursday a 2013 budget that aims to keep expenditures in line with flat revenue predictions.

The public will be able to weigh in on budget plans for 2013 at 9:30 a.m. in the county commission's chambers at the county administration building in Jackson. The hearing kicks off the commissioners' budget process, although the office of Auditor Pete Frazier has been putting together the budget for months.

Beginning Thursday, and continuing until the end of January, commissioners will be evaluating the proposed $11.4 million general revenue and expenditures budget and will make changes as they see fit.

The county hopes 2013 will buck a trend of rising expenditures.

The proposed $11.4 million appropriations budget in 2013 is just below the $11.5 million for 2012.

Commissioners may ask for cuts or for increased spending during the budget process, said Frazier, who often looks at three-year trends while preparing the budget.

During 2012, county officeholders made several administrative changes, including choosing to self-fund a health insurance plan for employees to reduce costs or keep them at the same level. Changing the way it will handle insurance in 2013, for example, will save the county nearly 9 percent as compared to 2012.

"Going line by line, you won't necessarily see savings in the budget in the form of a lower number than the year before," Frazier said. "But you need to realize it's there. It would have gone up otherwise," he said.

Just as officeholders predicted, a low unencumbered balance -- $51,000 -- is shown in 2013's budget documents. In September, Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy and First District Commissioner Paul Koeper approved levying an additional property tax to help make up funds lost to the county in the past several years as revenue declined. Commissioner Jay Purcell, who will be replaced by commissioner-elect Charlie Herbst in January, voted not to enact the levy, which is allowed by state statute but hadn't been used in 20 years.

County officeholders, including Treasurer Roger Hudson, have said falling sales tax revenue in 2008 and 2009 along with fairly flat annual revenue in 2010 and 2011 combined with less revenue from other fees the county collects through services it provides and a decline in reimbursements from the state caused the unencumbered balance to shrink. In 2010, the balance was about $395,000. Sales tax revenue for the county in 2012 also has seen no significant improvement, up 2.12 percent from 2011.

Tracy said Tuesday the 2013 budget does not include an increase in salaries for officeholders, which has been the subject of negative attention in recent years as salaries have been raised annually. He has said rising salaries are a trend he anticipates will go soon away.

Frazier goes over the budget for each county office line by line with the elected official who oversees it. Tracy said he thinks officeholders have done an exceptionally good job this year going through budgets to eliminate unnecessary costs.

"These are tough economic times for everybody, and we are squeezing and stretching every dollar," he said.

Commissioners can pass a preliminary budget and then return to make changes through the process.

Most years commissioners have until Jan. 10 to complete the budget, but this year the deadline will be extended until the end of January to allow time for Herbst to take office and participate in voting on a final version.

Any member of the public may request to examine the proposed budget before the hearing by visiting the auditor's office.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

1 Barton Square, Jackson, MO