by Dennis Sharkey
Landmark reporter
On Friday, the Platte County Commission is set to approve a budget for 2010 that does not include pay cuts for county employees. However, it does not include any raises either.
Presiding Commissioner Betty Knight said on Tuesday that all lines in the budget pertaining to employees will remain at the same level as last year.
Knight said she and other officeholders were disappointed that raises could not be given.
“That I know is a disappointment for all of the commission, because we do like to reward employees that do a good job serving the public,” she said. “We do value them and we feel like they serve the public very well.”
She said officeholders worked diligently to ensure no cuts would have to be made to employees. Knight said the main factor in not giving raises is attributed to higher insurance premium costs and a one percent increase in county contributions to the state-run employee retirement plan.
“There's another thing that doesn't go into anybody's pocket but the county absorbs,” she said. “It's a disappointment that we're not able to give salary increases, but we have done things on behalf of employees that they don't necessarily see in their bank account or check.”
Knight said for the most part county employees understand the tough choices officeholders made in formulating the budget.
Knight said with the budget, current services will be sustained. She said no new employees would be hired this year, however, employees will be replaced due to retirement or attrition.
Knight said projected revenues were budgeted conservatively. Sales tax revenues are budgeted 4.4 percent lower than 2009 actual tax receipts.
Additionally, use tax projections are down nearly 20 percent from 2009 actual receipts. In all, general government receipts are budgeted nearly seven percent below 2009 figures.
The county has also had to deal with cuts from Jefferson City. In October, Gov. Jay Nixon announced that county assessors would see a 33 percent cut in funding from the state. That announcement was partially to blame for Assessor Lisa Pope's decision not to replace two vehicles in her department that were due for replacement.
Furthermore, Knight said the county had to absorb another cut to the county prosecutor's office as well.
County Auditor Siobhann Williams agreed that revenue projections are conservative but expressed optimism about sales tax revenues for 2010. Right now she is projecting a 2.5 increase in general sales tax revenues in 2010. She attributes the increases to inflation and new retail developments.
Williams said on Tuesday that January general sales tax numbers for 2010 are up 11.6 percent from last year. The January numbers are from sales made to consumers during the month of November.
However, there is some bad news. Williams said January use tax numbers are more than 40 percent below this time last year. Williams said large scale commercial development will hit a wall in 2010.
“We're not going to be seeing anymore Best Buys or Home Depots or Targets opening,” Williams said. “I don't see it in the next few years because we are so saturated. We're not going to be back to boom time next year.”
The good news Williams said is that Platte County is still primed for growth in the metro area. She said growth to the south and east has extended too far beyond the core of the city, which is not the case for Platte County.
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