The Warren County Commission this week adopted the 2011 budget which proposes spending at $18,950,442, a decrease of $971,631 from the previous year. The projected revenues from all funds is $11,182,841. The county is beginning the year with $10,117,923.12 in reserves Last year, the county approved spending $19,480,310, an all-time high and nearly $4 million more than in 2009. Commissioners voted 3-0 to approve the budget Monday. A public hearing was held prior to the vote with little fanfare as around 12 people were in attendance, most of whom were elected officials and county employees. Commissioners praised elected officials and department heads who worked to continue reducing expenses. This year the county has anticipated spending $825,000 in the general revenue fund reserves, but hopes to follow along the same results as previous years. According to Presiding Commissioner Arden Engelage, only $103,987 in reserves was used in 2010 when the budget projected the figure to reach $978,00. In 2009, $975,951 in reserves was budgeted in the general fund, but the figure by the end of the year was $446,708. Engelage described the budget process as one of the better ones in his tenure with the county. “All the elected officials and department heads were very good to work with,” he told The Record. “They realize the tough economic times we’re having. We’re trying to keep reserves in general revenue.” While preparing the budget, they asked each department to reduce expenses by 5 percent off last year’s approved figures, though it was noted that some didn’t fall in that range and stayed the same or were slightly higher. As a result of the belt-tightening that did occur, commissioners said they were able to give county employees a raise for the first time in three years. The modest 10-cent hourly raise will bump an employees’ annual pay by $208. Overall, the pay increase will cost an additional $22,880 for this year’s budget, county officials previously said. Each employee, with the exception of elected officials and personnel in the sheriff’s department, will receive the raise. Sheriff Kevin Harrison previously agreed to use the money allocated for raises to avoid layoffs within his department after having $25,000 cut, which amounted to 5 percent, from his initial request to have $500,000 transferred from the general revenue fund. While it may have been possible to give larger raises, Southern District Commissioner Hubie Kluesner said the commission wanted to avoid dipping further into county reserves. “We don’t want to continue depleting general revenue reserves at the rate we were going,” he said. “Eventually there would be nothing to deplete. At some point the well is going to run dry. We don’t want to be sitting in this chair when the well runs dry.” The county is expecting to collect $1,174,000 from each of the three half-cent sales taxes (law enforcement, general revenue and capital improvement), slightly down from $1,177,841.56 that was collected in 2010. Commissioners said they preferred to remain conservative in estimating the sales tax revenue in case the income should drop. “Last year was up a little, but a lot of people tell us it won’t be that way (this year),” Kluesner said. The budget includes $5,663,452 allocated for the new administration building which is currently under construction. Work on the facility, to house all non-court related offices, is expected to be completed in February 2012. The project is estimated to cost $6.5 million overall. To help provide more space for inmates and better access for work release inmates, $50,000 is allocated to begin a study to remodel the maintenance room on the courthouse’s main level and construct a jail dorm. Commissioners, who said work could begin this year if the project progresses to that point, said the dorm will help reduce prisoners bringing contraband into the regular jail housing population. No other courthouse remodeling is scheduled for this year in anticipation of the county offices moving to the new facility. Other funds appropriated in the 2011 budget will cover expenses related to demolition of the former juvenile building, recording the updated zoning order, purchasing a one-ton pickup truck and skid loader for the road department, constructing a bridge on Powerline Road, finishing the construction of a bridge on Bernheimer Road and overlaying approximately two miles on South Lohman Road. Also, commissioners expect to asphalt approximately six miles of county roads this year. The commission also allocated $25,000 to help attract a college institution to the county, a joint effort with the Warren County R-III School District, city of Warrenton and civic leaders. The same amount was budgeted last year but was not spent. Also included in the budget is the proposed tax rates for the general revenue fund and the road and bridge fund. The commissioners set the general revenue rate at 12.21 cents per $100 of assessed valuation and a rate of 16.16 cents for the road and bridge fund. In 2010, the tax rates were 13.39 for general revenue and 17.27 cents for roads and bridges. The budget for the various county funds is as follows: law enforcement ($2,849,450 in revenues and $3,015,513 in expenditures); capital improvements ($619,990 in revenues and $6,176,377 in expenditures), road and bridge ($2,918,144 in revenues and $3,552,471 in expenditures), assessment ($457,297 in revenues and $516,257 in expenditures) and federal grants ($453,553 in revenue and $471,456 in expenditures).