County commission gets first whiff of budget

    The first pawn has been moved in the annual chess match known as budgeting, where taxing entities try to put necessary improvements in place without upping taxes.
    The Ford County Commission got its first taste of the 2009 budget Monday morning, after representatives from the Ford County Kansas State Extension office approached them asking for additional money.
    Bryan Bauer, president of the extension council, approached the commissioners and asked them to play with some numbers so the council would be able to hire a 4-H agent.
    Bauer said the council's family consumer science agent and ag agent had been splitting the duties of the 4-H positions. In an effort to avoid burning out his two agents, Bauer said the council was ready to hire another person.
    The council has already received $11,000 from K-State for the new agent, as well as $5,000 out of the local extension office's savings. The council is then asking the county for $15,000 towards the agent's $31,000-a-year salary.
    Bauer said although the council could scrape together the money without any additions from the county, any help the county could offer in its 2009 budget would be appreciated.
    "It's been six years since we got an increase in our budget," Bauer said. "We are planning on putting on an agent, no matter what happens. We need it. We are working our two ladies pretty hard."
    Although Commission Chairman Kim Goodnight did voice his support for the 4-H program and the extension council, he came just short of promising Bauer any new money.
    "We will continue to use our imagination on how to make sure everyone receives the amount of money they need," he said. "The extension and 4-H programs are important to us."

Overall budget
    The extension council's request for more funds underscored what is often considered the county's largest onus: the overall budget for 2009.
    County Administrator Ed Elam told the commissioners that it was high time the issue of budgeting came to the forefront of discussions.
    "We're looking at our biggest challenge," he said. "How does the commission want to handle the '09 budget?"
    Elam said he had already begun cobbling numbers together from the administration services side. His biggest concern, he said, was the whole process tended to get convoluted, especially when it came to a major sticking point: employees' salaries.
    The commissioners didn't delve into specifics of the budget yet, but they did have a light discussion of the best way to approach the mountain placed before them.
    In an effort to nip the salary-and-raise issue in the bud, commissioners set a tentative 2 percent limit on raises.
    Ford County Sheriff Dean Bush asked for the number so he would have a better idea of what he was dealing with when he began to prepare his budget.
    "It makes it easier on us when we have some sort of idea," he said.
    Goodnight said department heads should have early numbers to the commissioners by the end of May.

Reach Mark Vierthaler at (620) 408-9932 or e-mail him at mark.vierthaler@dodgeglobe.com.