by Alan McArthur
Landmark reporter

The Platte County Auditor's Office has released its recommended county budget for 2008.

A proposed new budget will still need to be approved by the county commission before it becomes an official document, but following are some of the highlights from the proposed version.

The proposal has an expected expenditure of $20,080,973. For 2007, the projected expenditures are to reach $17,583,055, which is $3 million less than the commission approved $20,655,009.

The proposed revenues for 2008 are expected at $20,080,973. In 2007, the projected revenue is $20,991,108 while the budget approved by the Commission was $20,655,009.

Revenue from property taxes is expected to increase from $650,000 in 2007 to $670,000, according to the recommended budget. The revenue from the general sales tax is also expected to increase from projected revenue in 2007 of $7,173,757 to a sum of $7,556,850 in 2008, an increase of $383,093, or five percent.

Use tax revenue has been hard to predict in recent years and at times has been a point of contention among county officials as they make budget projections.

With that in mind, the proposed use tax revenue for Platte County in 2008 is $4 million, which is up from the current approved 2007 budget of $3.45 million. The projected use tax revenue for 2007 is set at $3.88 million.

These numbers create a total tax revenue for the county of $12.3 million in 2008, up from the $11.3 million approved in 2007. Projected revenue for 2007 is at $11.76 million.

Salaries for 2008 are projected to top $8.7 million from a projected expense of $7.9 million in 2007.

The complete recommended budget is available on the county auditor's website at www.co.platte.mo.us/county_off_aud.html. The Landmark will take a more in depth look at the budget as the discussion and approval process takes shapes over the next few weeks.