County Commission approves 2021 budget

By Geoffrey Woehlk | February 4, 2021 |

FORUM FILE PHOTO
The Nodaway County Commission recently approved its 2021 budget.

MARYVILLE, Mo. — The Nodaway County Commission approved its 2021 budget last month, coming in at just under $11.2 million in spending goals.

The approved budget has five operating funds and a special tax fund that are budgeted as follows for 2021:

General Revenue: $5.2 million
Road and Bridge: $3.4 million
Road and Bridge, special gravel tax: $1.37 million
Administration Center: $652,240
Assessor: $414,800
911: $149,422

According to a budget message from Nodaway County Clerk Melinda Patton, general revenue is largely funded by sales taxes, which have mostly held steady over the past 10 years. The county’s use tax, which adds the sales tax to online purchases, has shown a decline since 2014, “where it had a substantial increase,” Patton said. Vehicle and gas taxes also fund general revenue, and have held steady.

The property tax levy remains at 16 cents per $100 assessed valuation to keep up with rising costs at the Nodaway County Administration Center. That includes some upgrades that were originally planned for 2020, but have been delayed because of COVID-19.

CARES Act

In May of last year, the county received $2.59 million in CARES Act funds, and opened a small business grant program operated across three phases that capped at $5,000 per business. Funds were also used to purchase cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment for county buildings, school districts and other taxing entities, fire protection districts and various civic organizations. Approximate amounts spent are as follows:

Supplies: $110,100 – (masks, hand sanitizer, gloves, wipes, cleaner, etc.)
Equipment: $287,100 – (UV lights, touchless water coolers, handheld sprayers, air purifiers, etc.)
Material costs: $6,000 – (fiber lines, parts for water coolers, etc.)
Contract costs: $44,000 – (legal fees, program administration, audit, etc.)
Taxing entity reimbursements: $1.12 million – (for COVID-related purchases)
Small business relief grants: $800,000 – (up to $5,000 per business)
Civic organization grants: $34,000 – (reimbursements for COVID-related purchases)

County Clerk

According to the budget message, the County Clerk’s office is working toward moving its files to an accessible, online system that will see some specific scanned items made available to the public this year.

In July, the clerk’s office was awarded a $22,500 grant through the Missouri State Archive’s Electronics Records Initiative program.

Patton said that after a bid process, her office has purchased OCR-capable equipment — Optical Character Recognition — that will allow files to be scanned into a searchable format. The clerk’s office has worked with the company DocuLock to create an index of the files, which so far has included scans of commission minutes, election documentation files and assessed valuation files.

“In 2021, the Clerk’s staff will work to make specific scanned items available to the public,” Patton said in the budget message.

Sheriff’s office

The budget message also provided an update on the sheriff’s office heading into 2021.

Maj. Randy Houston retired after 28 years.
Capt. Scott Wedlock was promoted to major, and will be in charge of jail and court security.
Sgt. Austin Hann was promoted to captain and will be in charge of patrol deputies.
Matt McDonald, formerly of Northwest Missouri State University Police, began work as a deputy on Jan. 4.

Wedlock and Head Jailor Kevin Hayes have set new standards for jailer advancement and training that include a 6-month probationary period during which specific trainings must be completed.

The jail housed 631 inmates in 2020, and deputies took 935 reports.

Other county notes

County employees will receive a 1.5 percent cost-of-living increase as part of the approved budget.
Approximately 1,052 property tax payments were dropped off at the exterior dropbox installed outside the administration building in the latter half of 2020.
As previously reported, Prosecuting Attorney Caleb Phillips has requested to hire another staff member to help manage the more than 800 non-traffic cases he expects his office to file this year.