The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners approved a $10,242,428 budget for 2013 at their meeting Dec. 28, 2012, according to Deputy Administrator of Budget and Finance Robert Mooney in a conversation on Dec. 31, 2012.
The budget has been increased by $152,322 or 1.51 percent over last year. That increase is partially offset by an anticipated increase in estimated revenues of $24,407, or 2.13 percent.
After estimated revenues and credits are applied, $8,926,103 will need to be raised by the towns. That is an increase of $124,915, or 1.42 percent.
The town’s share of the budget is not set in stone, Mooney said. The commissioners can still apply money from surplus to reduce that figure before committing that number to the towns, he said.
The county has been trying to keep the budget flat for a number of years but eventually it must go up, Mooney said.
Increases in personnel expenditures, most less than 4 percent, were approved in most departments. The District Attorney’s office received an increase to its personnel allotment of $38,226, or 48.05 percent, in order to accommodate the addition of a new paralegal position, Mooney said.
The commissioners approved an increase of $38,040, or 13.26 percent, to contractual services for the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
Major Ken Mason, of the LCSO, said in a telephone conversation on Jan. 2 that the increase is to pay for services from Volunteers of America and the Addiction Resource Center.
VOA provides services for alternative sentencing other than jail time, and ARC counsels people on drug and alcohol addictions, Mason said. Both work to try to keep recidivism down, he said.
The money spent on those services provides a good return on investment for the department, Mason said. “The savings is significant,” he said.
The county is working have the final tax commitment available to towns earlier this year, Mooney said. Though he didn’t want to provide a specific date, Mooney indicated it could be as much as two months sooner.
“We are pushing and making every effort to make it sooner this year,” Mooney said. The county’s municipal accounting software, Trio, has made the process smoother and faster, he said.
