BENTON, Mo. -- Scott County employees have already seen their insurance premiums go up in 2008. Now it appears they won't be getting pay raises, either.

Due to this year's county budget crunch, county employees and elected officials won't receive the 3.5 percent cost of living adjustment they got last year, county commissioners said Thursday as they discussed the proposed 2008 budget, which is still being finalized.

With the estimated loss of about $400,000 when the county's half-cent law enforcement sales tax expires at the end of September, the cost of living raise was one way county officials sought to balance the 2008 budget.

Commissioners Ron McCormick and Dennis Ziegenhorn and Presiding Commissioner Jamie Burger expressed regret of the elimination of the adjustment but said it was necessary.

County employees will still get some extra money this year in the form of an "employee incentive" check worth $300 for each employee to be given out at the end of January. However, employees on the county's health insurance plan had their premiums increased by $264 for 2008.

No employees will lose their jobs because of budget cuts, commissioners said.

There is some good news about the 2008 budget. In 2007, county officials were able to spend $1.35 million under budgeted expenditures, creating a surplus to carry over into this year and help relieve the budget constraints.

However, that carry-over may be depleted by the end of 2008, Ziegenhorn said. Next year will create an even bigger budgeting challenge for county officials when the approximately $1.6 million the county receives annually from the sales tax will disappear completely.

Burger said relief from the state in the form of full reimbursement for holding prisoners convicted on state crimes could help alleviate the crunch. It costs about $34 to house a prisoner for a day in Scott County, Burger said, but the state gives the county a $21.25 per diem.

Last year the county was able to reduce prisoner housing costs. In 2006, Scott County paid $118,000 to house prisoners in Scott City and Chaffee jails, but that cost fell to $93,000 last year, Burger said, thanks to prosecutors' and judges' efforts to expedite criminal proceedings.

McCormick said if the state addresses the E-911 funding situation as a committee recommended last year, the county could also see big savings, as funds from general revenue are being pumped into 911 operations to cover declining revenue from land-line phone taxes.

The loss of sales-tax revenue isn't the only area pinching Scott County's budget. When the county sought bids for renewing its health insurance plan last fall, its carrier, American Community, asked for a 73 percent increase in premiums.

The county commission instead chose HealthLink but could not avoid a 43 percent increase in costs. Premium payments for covered employees rose to $487.96 per month, up from $340.53, County Clerk Rita Milam said. The county pays 85 percent of that amount, and the increase will cost the county $135,000 for about 90 covered employees, she said.

And the lack of a pay increase will mean smaller paychecks for every employee taking part in the health plan because they will have to contribute an extra $22.12 per month for their coverage. For employees who include spouses and children in the health plan, the increase will mean an extra $314.34 per month deducted for insurance coverage.

"Health insurance is very serious, and I don't know if people realize that, but it is out of hand," Milam said.

Budgeting with the anticipated loss of the sales tax and other issues like insurance and 911 service was a process of cutting costs wherever possible.

"We had to have more of an eraser this year than a sharp pencil," Ziegenhorn said.

A public hearing will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the county commission room for the proposed 2008 budget.

Staff writer Rudi Keller contributed to this report.

msanders@semissourian.com

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