In August, the Cole County Commission heard from department heads under their direct supervision about budget needs, and most of the discussions focused on personnel and salaries, with many saying it was getting harder to find qualified employees for the salaries they could offer.
On Tuesday, department heads and elected officials made another pitch for funds.
This comes after the commission received the proposed 2017 budget from Cole County Auditor Kristen Berhorst in November.
The proposed budget would grow by about 4 percent to $74.9 million.
Berhorst's proposed budget includes a 1 percent cost of living allowance (COLA) for employees with a merit pool that is 2 percent of total salaries. The pool is a reserve account to give merit raises in each county department. The 2016 budget included a 2 percent COLA increase and a 2 percent merit pool.
Berhorst said they leaned more on merit money than COLA this year to try and give departments a little more power as to where the money goes.
She added the county will continue to pay for health and dental coverage for employees.
Many of the funding requests made Tuesday again dealt with personnel matters.
The Public Works Department is looking to hire another full-time person to do maintenance at county parks for eight months a year and then do road work or snow removal for the remaining four months. The salary would be $40,000.
Commissioners were asked to raise starting salaries for maintenance employees at county facilities after losing seven full-time employees during the last year. The requested starting salary is $12.50 an hour. The current starting salary is $10.66 an hour.
The County Recorder's Office is asking for two full-time positions for the upcoming year. One deputy clerk is retiring and another will be taking a multi-month maternity leave. Recorder Ralph Bray said the office had five deputies as late as the spring of 2014, and getting back to that level would allow for the office to properly handle the increasing amount of documents that need to be recorded.
Prosecutor Mark Richardson also asked for an additional assistant prosecutor and said the commission had indicated in the past they could be willing to pay half the cost.
Only one new position is in Berhorst's proposed budget - a training officer in the Sheriff's Department. That's due to new laws requiring more training for department employees.
The commission has already approved the addition of eight other employees who are included in the 2017 budget.
In June, the commission approved adding four additional employees to the Sheriff's Department after spiking a similar request last December. The department hired three jailers in the county jail and one detective in the patrol division.
In September, the commission also agreed to add more staff to the county ambulance service. After meeting with officials of Paramedics Plus LLC, the county 's consultant on ambulance service enhancements, the commission agreed to add four dispatchers, as the service changed how it handles incoming emergency calls.
Other matters brought up during Tuesday's budget discussions included:
$7,700 to purchase batteries for the 14 outdoor warning sirens the county maintains. New sirens were erected in 2012, and the batteries that help them run have a life span of four to five years.
GIS software upgrades. It's hoped this will improve navigation to get to information on the county's GIS website. Commissioners said they had been getting complaints users were finding it harder to find the information they were looking for.
Sheriff Greg White asked commissioners to consider using $7 million in reserves that his department has to do three improvements at the county jail: The first would pour concrete and use the interstitial floor for some purpose. This is just below the jail floor that is open. It costs $2 million and was put in for future growth. The second project would put in a water tank to avoid the potential for a loss of water due to water main breaks. He said a space is in the jail for this. The third would add a third commercial washer and dryer to do jail laundry.
There were also budget discussions on cooperative projects to be done in Jefferson City with sales tax money in 2017 including building a railroad spur at Algoa to serve businesses there for $200,000. Another project would be reconstruction of Capitol Avenue. The city and county initially put in $300,000 each for this, but it's now expected to cost $1.3 million. Reserve funds could be used to cover the rest of the cost.
A county street/stormwater replacement project is also being planned for the Crossroads Subdivision, which includes Dewberry Drive, Rustic Lane and Greenbrier Drive for $1.2 million.
Commissioners will have budget meetings over the next few weeks and a public hearing and vote on the final budget is scheduled for Jan. 10.