More budget requests come in to county

    Three more departments which receive large chunks of funding from Ford County have come forward in the early stages of Ford County's budgeting process.
    Court Appointed Special Advocates, the Ford County Fair Board and the Ford County Conservation District all gave commissioners presentations of what their next year was going to look like.
    CASA director Kristin Hines gave commissioners a rundown of the services CASA provides. The program, largely dedicated to helping children find permanent homes after they have gone through the court system, is largely based on volunteers.
    Since 2001, Hines said CASA has helped more than 311 abused and neglected children. Of those 311 children, close to 85 percent were Ford County residents. Dodge City CASA also helps children in Clark, Comanche, Gray, Kiowa and Meade counties.
    "We make sure they have an advocate and a voice in court," Hines said.
    Hines requested a $7,000 increase over the program's 2008 budget. She said all the money would be used to increase services to children, specifically in Ford County.
    "Our request is less than 10 percent of the budget," she said. "We do a lot of important work.”
    The Fair Board also asked commissioners for a $37,000 raise in its budget, due in large part to the constant fight against graffiti along the fairgrounds near Wright Park.
    Jacob Ring, fair board president, said the fairgrounds were used almost every weekend out of the year. And coupled with an increase of graffiti around Dodge City, it was costing more to keep the area up to snuff.
    The conservation district is the first county entity not to request any adjustments for next year's budget.
    District manager Sheila McCarty said her staff didn't see any appreciable increases or decreases in the upcoming year, keeping the district's supplement from the county at $42,000.
    "We're at the place where our equipment was up to date," she said.
    Commission Chairman Kim Goodnight remained noncommittal about the funding requests, in large part because county officials hadn't delved into the budget hot and heavy.
    Goodnight said the commission was going to keep a close eye on necessary expenses, especially when it came to energy usage and fuel costs for vehicles.
    "Maintenance issues are what we're going to have to figure out," he said.
    The commission has already heard from the Kansas State University Ford County Extension Office, which requested extra funding to hire a 4-H extension agent.
    Goodnight did have praise for McCarty's ability to keep her budget on keel.
    "It does our hearts good," he said.

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