COUNTY SPENDING WILL SLOW NEXT YEAR

JACKSON, Mo. -- Scrooge wouldn't have been pleased with the Cape Girardeau County Commission this year.

"We really spent a lot of money," said Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones.

The county spent more than $1 million buying land and constructing a new archive center, buying a building in Jackson for the public defender's office and land in Cape Girardeau for a new juvenile detention center, Jones said.

That doesn't include added costs for the new $8 million jail under construction in Jackson that weren't covered by a bond issue.

The county budgeted $7.5 million for capital improvement projects this year with the jail expansion heading the list. The capital improvements helped drive up the county's total budget to $20 million.

But the county doesn't plan to spend nearly as much on capital improvements next year, officials said, although the exact figure hasn't been determined. They're still finalizing next year's budget, although the commission will hold a public hearing on the budget at 10 a.m. Thursday in the Cape Girardeau County Administrative Building in Jackson.

Auditor H. Weldon Macke, the county's chief budget officer, said the proposed budget includes $10.17 million for the general operating budget -- up $50,000 over this year -- and another $2.54 million for the road and bridge department, up $264,000.

The county also has a capital fund, but Macke said he won't finalize that part of the budget until January. He has projected putting $800,000 from general revenue into the capital account. Most of that -- about $600,000 -- would be used to finish paying for the new jail.

Jones said aerial mapping and a related computer records system to store data on all the tracts of land in the county, buildings and roads could cost $600,000 or more. The budget includes money for that project, he said.

Another major investment is construction of the juvenile center in Cape Girardeau. But Jones said bonds would be issued to pay for that project.

Macke said the county won't be making any bond payments before 2002.

Most of the road and bridge money comes from state and federal funds, Macke said. The county road and bridge levy generated less than $600,000 this year.

Sales-tax growth slows

Macke said the county's sales-tax revenue grew at a slower pace this year than in previous years. Still, it raised $5.1 million. The 2001 budget projects a 3 percent growth, which would generate an additional $100,000.

The new budget includes 3.5 percent pay raises for the county's 165 employees. Jones said the commission wanted to stick to its pay plan.

"You get a bunch of disgruntled employees, and then you don't get a lot of work done," he said.

"We are going to take care of services to the people," Jones said. "We have enough money to take care of that. We have enough money to take care of our employees. We are just not going to be making major investments."

The county assessor's office will reassess real estate values in the coming year. But county officials said reassessment, which could increase property tax bills by 4 percent, would have little impact on the county's budget since the only property tax money it receives is from its road and bridge levy.

Even with a relatively tight budget, the county is in good shape financially, officials said.

Jones said county officeholders typically spend about 85 percent of their budgeted revenue. "They just don't spend it so we roll it back into general revenue, he said.

The county also maintains a $5 million emergency reserve fund.