Greene County budget grows by 8 percent

The $112.6 million budget reflects an 8 percent increase from the 2006 budget, due largely to a 7 percent spike – about $2.6 million – in sales tax revenue last year, according to a county news release.

Other new revenue was derived from a $1 million U.S. Department of Justice technology grant for renovation of the county’s law enforcement computer systems and an estimated $750,000 from the Springfield-Greene County Park Tax ¬approved by voters in August.

The commission also budgeted $1.2 million for a 4 percent cost-of-living salary increase for county employees, effective Jan. 1, plus a July 1 merit-based step increase.

“We are grateful that the economy has been good enough to allow us to give our employees their first good raise in four years,” Associate Commissioner Roseann Bentley said in the release.

The budget includes $39 million for Greene County general revenue, $25 million for the county’s Road and Bridge Fund and $7.8 million for the Greene County Jail. The bulk of the balance goes to funds not directly administered by the county, including:

• Area parks, including the Springfield-Greene County Park Board ($13.4 million)

• Springfield-Greene County Library District ($12.7 million)

• Law Enforcement Sales Tax funds disbursed to city police departments in the county ($7.8 million)

• Springfield-Greene County E-911 Fund ($4.3 million)

The county is still tallying the “enormous cost” of responding to and recovering from the ice storm, according to the release. County officials are hoping for significant help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The commission also approved a 1/8-cent sales tax proposal that would replace a 10 percent surcharge currently charged to land-line telephone customers in the county. Commissioners said the tax is necessary because more than half of the 330,000 911 calls each year are placed from cell phones.