The Platte County Commission last week approved the county’s 2024 budget, featuring full funding for law enforcement and parks and recreation.
Commissioners met Tuesday, Jan. 2 to approve the balanced budget, meaning revenues equal or exceed expenses in all funds. The budget includes a realignment of the parks department and a limited number of changes from the auditor’s recommended budget, which was published in mid-November.
In a letter to county residents – and read at the Jan. 2 session – commissioners hit the highlights of the new budget. Of these highlights, the top was full funding for all county law enforcement agencies and full funding of parks and recreation thanks to the continuation of the county parks and stormwater sales tax.
Public works is “sufficiently funded,” according to commissioners, to allow the county to maintain and improve the county’s infrastructure. A continued increase in sales tax revenues allowed commissioners to reduce the roads tax, which was also renewed by voters in 2022.
“Federal COVID relief funds are being used to upgrade and modernize county buildings and operations to mitigate the ongoing impacts of COVID,” the letter states. “Many of the updates are designed to make county government more efficient and accessible to the public.”
Across the board wage increases were approved, including an increase in base pay for sheriff’s deputies from $50,000 per year to $55,000. The prosecuting attorney’s office’s requested salaries were also approved. Overall, salary budgets were increased by 9 percent, “To help county employees deal with increases in inflation and past years where wage increases were less than CPI numbers.”
“And finally, with this budget, the county has prepared for potential future disasters by fully funding the county’s reserves in accordance with the Government Finance Officers Association’s recommendation to reserve three months of operating expenses.”
District commissioner Joe Vanover said that the biggest challenge facing Platte County government is that the detention center is full.
“This budget includes reserves totaling nearly $7 million for future projects, which might include a major addition to the Platte County Detention Center,” Vanover said. “The total cost of building a major addition to the jail will be so big that the county would need to issue bonds. But setting aside several million dollars now means we can borrow several million dollars less in the future.”