COUNTY WRAPS UP BUDGET

After six hours of debate and compromise, Jackson County Legislators emerged
from their private offices bleary-eyed and exhausted, with a 2005 budget
they could all agree with.

About 25 citizens weighed in Thursday on where they thought the highest
budget priorities should be placed.

Most spoke in favor of treatment and prevention programs. Several others
asked legislators to allow the prosecuting attorney to hire a new assistant
prosecutor for the child welfare division and two attorneys for a sex crimes
division in Eastern Jackson County. Legislators addressed all of these
concerns in their 2005 budget.

The budget for the prosecuting attorney was at the center of the debate
between county officials. Prosecutor Mike Sanders' budget was $1.7 million
short of last year, and legislators were scrambling all night to fix this
situation.

In the end, the Prosecutor's budget was restored and was awarded money to
hire the three new attorneys. Legislators also gave the green light to
Sanders to create a white-collar crime division. He wasn't given money to
hire an attorney for this, but was given funds to hire support personnel for
an attorney already in the Prosecutor's office, who will take on this extra
responsibility.

"We greatly appreciate the work of the legislators in focusing on the issues
that we thought were important to the citizens of Jackson County," Sanders
said. "We think the budget they came up with will adequately protect the
safety needs of citizens in the year ahead. That was critical, because the
original budget that was proposed, wasn't going to get that done."

Some of the money to meet shortfalls in Sanders' budget came from shifting
money into his department from the general fund. Legislators accomplished
this by moving some county jail expenses out of the general fund, instead
using surplus funds from the anti-drug sales tax for the jail. They justify
this by arguing that a majority of people in the county jail have some sort
of drug abuse problem.

Legislators spent about $5.5 million of the anti-drug surplus to balance the
budget, giving every agency within the anti-drug effort at least a taste of
the surplus.

Legislator Dan Tarwater, chairman of the Anti-Drug Committee, said the
process of allocating the anti-drug surplus was extremely difficult.

"We were $1.5 million shorter than the year before, but by working all the
numbers and moving some things back into the general fund, we were actually
able to increase every line item for anti-drug, from the 2004 budget to the
2005 budget. That was not easy and took a lot of work," Tarwater said. "The
work we have ahead of us now is to adopt a policy, so we make sure that we
come up with percentages that we can all follow, so it can be a road map to
the future."

Tarwater said percentages for surplus funds had to be adjusted from the
normal allocation of anti-drug funds, because of the large decreases some
departments were facing. He said this was going to be a huge problem to
solve next year.

Other budget issues

- - Legislators addressed some of the concerns county employees had with pay,
granting a 3 percent cost of living adjustment across the board. To
accomplish this, they used money that was available due to empty positions
that were budgeted last year, but never filled.

- - They also worked out an agreement with Sheriff Tom Phillips to provide
concealed weapons permits in Jackson County next year, by allocating an
additional $48,000 to his overtime budget.

- - The county used the surplus in the general fund to give money to several
outside agencies. These were: Southern Christian Leadership Council,
$60,000; St. Patrick's Day Parade, $7,000; Boys & Girls Club of Eastern
Jackson County, $25,000; Historic Northeast, $95,000; Japanese Sister City
program in Independence, $10,000; Old Northeast, $20,000; Boys & Girls Club,
$25,000; University of Missouri Extension Center, $45,500.

There was also a $267,376 surplus in the Park Fund, which was also allocated
to outside agencies. These were: Lee's Summit Underwater Rescue, $10,205;
Cave Springs Association, $23,800; Boys & Girls Club of Greater KC, $40,000;
United Inner City Services, $48,335; Guadalupe Center, $15,000; University
of Missouri Extension, $130,280.

Legislative Chairman Scott Burnett was pleased with the budget that resulted
from the lengthy debate.

"I think its a fair, well-rounded budget. We were able to compensate
employees with a 3 percent raise for their good work and take care of all
the major areas. It was quite a cooperative effort between many, many people
within the county and we feel good about it," Burnett said.

County Executive Katheryn Shields said the budget process was difficult this
year, but she never had any doubt that compromises would be reached.

"People expressed concerns over the last few weeks that maybe we wouldn't
get a budget. I assured everyone that we always get a budget. Sometimes it
takes little longer than other times, and they are always basically good
budgets. Not everything I want and not everything the Legislature wants, but
a compromise in between that is beneficial to the citizens of Jackson
County. We have that this time as well," Shields said.