COMMISSIONERS (from right) Matt Penning, Ron Jost and Jerry Lairmore review budget documents Thursday during their meeting in Owensville.

The county has until Thursday, Jan. 28, when they meet for the final time this month, to adopt their 2010 budget, said Lietzow. The commission must have a budget document available for public inspection 10 days prior to adoption meaning their deadline is Monday, Jan. 18.

“Some of the budgets can’t be cut because there’s nothing there,” said Presiding Commissioner Ron Jost.

One department being closely examined for potential budget cuts is the sheriff’s office which accounts for 42 percent of spending from General Revenue, according to figures provided by the county.

“I think the sheriff’s budget is the main one,” said Ron Jost after Tuesday’s budget meeting. “We just can’t afford it. I hate to say that but that’s a fact.”

Jost noted the sheriff’s department budget consumes 42 percent of the county’s General Fund which expended $1,943,000 last year. Lietzow said they are working on making a budget for 2010 with expenditures in General Revenue with only a modest increase in spending of $1,980,000. “We’re trying to keep it under two million (dollars),” said Lietzow. “That’s about the best we can hope for.”

Gasconade County Commissioners were scheduled to meet again this morning to iron out the county’s 2010 budget prior to their regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday in Hermann. The session for today was cancelled but Lietzow said she expects the commissioners will convene on Friday morning in Hermann to finalize the budget.

When the full commission met Thursday in Owensville, Jost said the county’s budget for the Road and Bridge Department was coming along. “(The) road department is in good shape,” said Jost. “We’ve been watching it all year. All three of us have been working on it.”

Southern District Commissioner Jerry Lairmore explained how the budget process works to the assembled media and a couple of citizens. “The road department is under the commission’s direction,” Lairmore said noting the Road and Bridge Department operates with its own funding. All other elected officials have budgets they present to the commission which comprise a separate General Revenue fund.

Fay Owsley, the county’s public administrator, appeared at the meeting and noted her budget request for 2010 was “bottom line, same as 2009.” She had budgeted for additional work days for an assistant but this request would not mean any additional funding. She said her budget numbers “were the same.”

She noted she needed some computer software upgrades and filing cabinets as her only capital upgrades. Commissioners suggested she look at the state surplus system to obtain the storage cabinets she needed.

Lietzow noted they were looking at all requests made for 2009 when the 2010 budget was being prepared but cautioned all department heads against seeking any pay increases this year. In a letter to elected officials and department heads, Lietzow wrote, “All of you know the dire conditions of General Revenue, so we are asking in advance that you do not include any requests for employee raises.”

Due to an anticipated and continued state and county-wide decline in sales tax revenues, she also  directed county supervisors to avoid requesting “more than you actually spent in 2009.” Further, she advised them to “re-allocate that amount as needed within your budget line items and know that you will have to stay within that bottom line. If you have any special circumstances over and above this, they need to be brought to the Commission’s attention.”

Lietzow’s Dec. 28, 2009, letter also requested those with funds available from discretionary accounts share with other departments. “Those of you that have access to discretionary funds in supplemental budgets, we would ask you to ‘voluntarily’ consider using those funds in any way allowable to lessen the burden on the General Revenue.”

And, she added, “We know we have no authority to enforce this request.”

The dire nature of the county’s funding shortfall this past year was evident in her closing comments.

“Hopefully, by taking the steps above, we will be able to balance the budget, without having to come back to you for more cuts. Thanks for doing all you can in these difficult times.”

The county’s budget forecast is no different from the state’s situation as noted in stories published this week on page 8. The bottom line is, Lietzow told commissioners last week, they needed to find a way to cut $157,834 in spending to balance the budget.

“There’s some (requests) you need to look at, obviously,” said Lietzow at the meeting in Owensville. “Everyone was told ‘don’t ask for more than you spent in oh-nine.”

Jost asked about funding for buildings and grounds at the courthouse. Lietzow said she “penciled in” buildings and grounds expenses on Jan. 4. She met that week with Treasurer Joey Gross where they discussed anticipated revenues. “We did not increase sales tax projections at all,” said told the commission. “What we got in oh-nine is what we projected for two-10.”

In response to a question from Owsley, Lairmore noted, “We won’t be approving the budget today. We’re still 157-thousand short. We’ve got to find 157-thousand.”

Jost began the meeting noting the Road and Bridge Department’s budget was close to being finalized. All three commissioners meet at 7 a.m. Jan. 7 at the road shed in Drake to review that budget. “It needs to be reworked a little bit yet,” said Jost.

If the county’s budget for maintaining roads and bridges seemed nearly complete last week, funding for housing those jailed for infractions against its residents was anything but finalized.

“He’s got a problem with his jail (budget),” said Jost referring to Sheriff Randy Esphorst’s need for funding to house those jailed on the county’s behalf  in Montgomery City. “He’s not happy about it.”

The county spent $305,000 this past year housing prisoners. The budget was $274,000.

“Over 50 percent of our budget is for prosecuting, jail, and courts,” lamented Lairmore.  “Law enforcement is over 50 percent of our (General Revenue ) budget.”

Commissioners agreed their main goal was to “protect payroll.” Maintaining jobs for county employees was a “key” they agree, “line item by line item.”

“That’s our last resort to look at,” said Lietzow on Tuesday. “That’s what we’re trying to prevent. We’ll see how well we do with that.”

Lietzow, noted last week, however, the commissioners “had the last word” on budget cuts in General Revenue considerations.

“The money’s not there,” noted Lairmore. He said prior criticism of county government was “unfounded. There’s no wasteful spending in county government. This is not a fun process. We’re offering more services for less money each year.”

The $157,000 the commission needs to cut represents 6 percent of the total General Revenue budget. The Road and Bridge Department operates on a separate budget with funding from county property taxes, a sales tax, and a sales tax in the transportation category. Lietzow said the R&B budget is based on anticipated revenues of $1,978,000 and expenditures of $2,221,000 including carry-over funds. That would leave the county, “if they hold,” with $85,000 in R&B funding at the end of 2010 to carry into and get them through January of 2011.

Lietzow also noted the commission could not touch funding for elections. Her budget will increase $100,000 this year to run a state-wide Primary Election in August and a General Election in November. “That extra hundred-thousand (dollars) has hurt,” said Lietzow.

In a hint of what the sheriff can expect in the final days of the budget process, Lairmore offered his assessment of the process. Esphorst had been listed on the agenda for budget discussion Thursday with the commission. Lairmore called the sheriff and said later that Esphorst said he did not think the commissioner would be meeting due to the winter storm which dumped 3 to 5 inches of snow across the county over night.

“Not only did our offer, and I won’t name names, almost all presented, all of them were below their actual numbers from last year,” said Lairmore referring to the majority of the county’s department heads and elected officials.

The sheriff did met Friday with the commission, said Lietzow. “He’s got to cut proportionately,” said Lietzow. “He’s got the most available to cut. No General Revenue office is going unscathed.”

Esphorst was attending a meeting in Jefferson City on Tuesday and was unavailable for comment.

As bleak as the situation appears, the county will not be alone. Maries County officials, strapped for operating cash entering December, ordered all departments to cut spending 10 percent so they could pay the bills. The situation at the state level is also grim.

State legislative leaders and the governor have agreed upon a revenue estimate that projects an historic decline in state revenues for the current fiscal year, the governor’s office reported.

On Monday, the legislative budget leaders and governor agreed upon a “consensus revenue estimate” that projects the state will collect $480 million less during the current fiscal year than last year.

According to the governor’s office, it is the “only year in modern history where revenues have fallen at a faster pace.” For the next fiscal year, that begins July 1, they estimate just a 3.6 percent increase in state General Revenue collections.