Five new positions and some pay raises are part of the 2021 budget approved Thursday by the Cole County Commission.
By a 2-1 vote, commissioners approved a budget of $97,420,095. Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman and Western District Commissioner Harry Otto voted in favor, while Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Hoelscher voted against.
The positions added include a deputy auditor, a legal secretary for the prosecutor's office, a health environmental specialist at the Cole County Health Department, a deputy marshal for the new associate circuit judge and a human resources director.
Hoelscher said he agrees with the need for the deputy marshal and human resources director but believes the other three positions should not be added right now. He noted the commission decided to remove what would have been an additional maintenance position from County Auditor Kristen Berhorst's proposed budget.
"We're down four spots in maintenance now, and at $13.50 an hour, I don't know where you are going to find people to fill those spots," Hoelscher said.
Maintenance director Greg Camp told commissioners, "It's starting to get to a point where we have to determine what buildings we can clean and which ones don't" due to the low staffing.
Commissioners pledged to work with Camp to address the staffing issue.
The budget includes a pay adjustment for deputies in the Cole County Sheriff's Department, from the current $37,000 starting pay to $40,000. This was done to help retain personnel and aid in recruiting as other area departments also increase salaries to stay competitive.
As part of the budget, the commission also approved three memoranda of understanding in an effort to give offices with special revenue funds the ability to hire more people.
An MOU with the Cole County Recorder of Deeds Office for $38,000 is intended to fund two part-time positions. The money comes from the recorder's fund.
Another MOU with the prosecuting attorney's office is for $105,400 to pay a full-time attorney. The money would be paid out of the prosecutor's delinquent tax fund and administrative handling cost fund.
The last MOU is with the Sheriff's Department, which would use money from its revolving fund to pay for one full-time employee and half the salary for a second full-time employee, with the county paying the other half. These employees will process concealed carry permits. The total cost is $63,726.
In each case, if money from these funds would no longer be available or if a position in these offices becomes vacant or is no longer needed, the agreement becomes null and void and a renegotiation would be required.
The budget also includes $747,066 to fund 10 additional paramedics for Cole County Emergency Medical Services due to increased call volume during the COVID-19 pandemic. Money from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act will pay for those positions. The plan is for the positions to be removed through attrition when call volumes decrease.
"They're in there for the whole year, but we don't know how long we'll need them," Berhorst said.
The budget includes a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment for all county employees.
Commissioners also left the amounts they had earlier budgeted for economic development unchanged - $120,000 for economic development and $30,000 for lobbyist activities.
Hoelscher said he believes they should increase the amount by $30,000, primarily for lobbyist activities, and Bushman and Otto agreed. However, as the county has no contract in place for lobbying, they decided not to make a change for now.
The commission also does not have a contract in place regarding the Jefferson City Regional Economic Partnership, which will be a new, separate economic development entity formed to allow the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce to focus on serving its member businesses. Chamber officials had earlier asked the commission to consider matching the $185,000 the Jefferson City Council agreed to give JCRECP, but the commission has not decided whether that will happen.
As for half-cent sales tax projects to be done this year, the biggest looks to be the reconstruction of Business 50 West from Babe Ruth Drive to Route T in St. Martins.
The project will include stormwater improvements, as well as curb and gutter and pavement upgrades. The estimated cost is $3.25 million.
The sales tax is up for its five-year renewal vote in April. Eighty-five percent of the money generated from the tax goes to road and bridge projects, while the remaining 15 percent goes to capital improvement projects at county facilities.
The county's 2020 budget grew from the $88.8 million the commission approved at the start of the year to $102 million, Berhorst said. The growth was due primarily to more than $9 million from Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funds, along with other one-time grants the county received to deal with the pandemic.