County department budget requests due

~ The process of crafting the budget begins in earnest Jan. 16.

BENTON, Mo. -- Today marks the deadline for Scott County's 2007 budget requests to be turned in for review by the county commission.

Scott County government departments are not required to have their requests in until Jan. 15, said County Clerk Rita Milam, but county commissioners Dennis Ziegenhorn and Jamie Burger have asked for departments to submit requests early to get a jump on the process of creating the new budget.

Since Scott County is a third-class county, Missouri statutes don't require the county to approve a budget until Feb. 1, Milam said.

The process of crafting the budget begins in earnest Jan. 16, following the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday, Ziegenhorn said. The commission is currently short one member following Burger's swearing in as presiding commissioner. Burger won election to the presiding commissioner seat last year. He replaced Martin Priggel, who chose not to pursue a third term in office.

Milam said a large number of budget requests have already been turned in. The 2006 budget included 28 county operating funds.

Ziegenhorn said he expects little change from 2006 in the new budget. Like last year, one of the top priorities in the new budget will be to find a way to offset declining revenue in the county's E-911 tax fund, which generates money from a tax on landline phones in the county. Recent years have seen revenue drop as more telephone users switch to cell phones only.

The county is hopes the state legislature will address the issue in its current session, but Ziegenhorn said county government won't count on that scenario. Instead, Scott County will try to find a way to deal with the falling E-911 revenue without taxing general revenue too much.

But while the county's E-911 operations have seen rising expenses and lower revenue, the county's largest fund, general revenue, was able to stay under estimated expenditures for 2006.

Last year's budget estimated expenditures of $4,835,187 from the general revenue fund, while taking in $3,998,013.

But by the end of the year, the county had only spent 78 percent of the amount of estimated expenditures from general revenue, with expenditures of $3,814,470. But revenue was also lower than estimated, coming in at $3,722,000. The difference will be made up from county reserves.

County offices credited

Ziegenhorn credits the savings in expenditures to county officials who took great care with their budgets, especially considering the added costs of general and primary elections during 2006.

"I contribute that to some good elected officials who ran their offices very efficiently in Scott County," he said.

As they formulate the 2007 budget commissioners will also consider asking voters for an extension of a half-cent sales tax that will expire at the end of 2007. The sales tax brings in about $1.6 million for law enforcement each year.

Burger has indicated the extension will likely appear on the April ballot and could help the county free up funds in general revenue to help pay for an archives/emergency supply storage building in the county seat.

Scott County is also waiting on word from Gov. Matt Blunt's office on his appointment to fill Burger's former seat. Ziegenhorn said the county commission formally requested an appointment from Blunt's office Monday.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182