by Theodore Wiesehan and Stephanie Croston

    Despite trimming funding requests by $45,657, the Seward County Board of Commissioners still face a 2006-2007 preliminary budget of $15,586,638, a 13-percent increase over last year, after department budget hearings at its Aug. 1 meeting.
     Should the budget be approved in its current state, the county would need to collect $4,497,386 in property taxes. The tax requirement would be an 8.5-percent jump from 2005-2006.
     Without additional cuts or tax relief measures from the county's inheritance fund, the 2006-2007 budget increases would require a levy increase of approximately 1.24 cents per $100 of valuation, a 3.9-percent jump.
    Levy lid
     Sherry Schweitzer, county clerk, reviewed the 2.5-percent levy lid and its effect on the county's budget.
     She said the county usually has between $500,000 and $1 million in unused budget authority, which is money that could collected before the county reaches the 2.5-percent lid. Based on this year's requests, the total unused budget authority will be down to about $290,000.
     The unused budget authority can be carried over from year to year, giving the county budget some room to expand under the lid.
     The inheritance tax fund total is also down a bit because the county paid for the Matzke Highway paving project from that fund. Money for the county's share of the economic development budget also came from the inheritance fund last year, Schweitzer said.
     Payments to the Verdin Company for the chimes renovations also came from the inheritance fund, as did money for elevator repairs and microfilm.
     The board will continue in budget deliberations over the next several weeks and is not required to approve a budget until the middle of September.
    Economic development
     The board approved a budget of $85,000 for Seward County Economic Development Director Lana Zumbrunn, the same amount as last year.
     Seward County Clerk Sherry Schweitzer recommended setting aside $10,000 in the economic development fund's cash reserve rather than $5,000.
     "It's a small fund and when there's only one budget in one fund we get into problems like with pretrial," Schweitzer said.
     The board agreed with Schweitzer's recommendation.
    County clerk
     Schweitzer then presented the board with her budget request of $162,250, a 4.36-percent increase from last year's budget.
     Commissioner Ron Minchow asked Schweitzer if she could trim down the amount requested for supplies.
     "We did not buy any supplies the last two months or so because of my problems with payroll," Schweitzer said. "I have 80 plats to get laminated at $7.50 a piece."
     Schweitzer also presented the budget for election commissioner of $46,600 to the board, a 2.42-percent increase from 2005-2006.
     "I used to have 10- to 15,000 left over," Schweitzer said of past budget years. "This year I don't have anything because of the election machines. Though they didn't cost me anything I had to take classes for them."
     The board left Schweitzer's budgets untouched.
    Aging services
     The board also approved $64,379 for county aging services, a 4.1-percent increase over last year.
    Treasurer
     The board made no cuts to Seward County Treasurer Bob Dahms's $180,556 budget. The amount is a 2.58-percent increase from last year.
     Dahms also requested a $13,000 remodeling project for his offices involving partitioning the work spaces.
     County court
     The board decided to increase the county court's budget $10,000 for court costs to $35,250.
     "This is the thing with court costs, even the ones that are in our budget," Clerk of the County Court Sheila Beins said. "Those costs are given to me, but they're not generated by me. I have no idea how to predict them."
     Extension office
     Gail Brand presented a budget request of $112,750 for the Seward County Extension Office, a 4.15-percent increase over last year.
     Brand said that because the University of Nebraska is no longer providing printed Nebraska guides the extension office will be leasing a color printer to make duplicates.
     "If there are other county offices that want to print quantity color, they are sure welcome to that (printer)," she said.
     Buildings and grounds
     The board carved $1,500 out of the buildings and grounds's $142,457 budget request.
     The commissioners reduced the amount allotted for utilities from $8,800 to $8,300 (the department spent $8,165 on last year's utilities), supplies from $9,000 to $8,500 (the department spent $7,802 on supplies last year) and lawn care equipment from $1,000 to $500 (last year buildings and grounds spent $308 on such equipment).
    Emergency management
     The board heard requests from Emergency Manager and Weed District Supervisor Gary Petersen for $66,234 and $28,408 for the emergency management and weed department budgets, respectively. The requests represent a 2.42-percent jump in the emergency management budget and a 2.36-percent increase in the weed budget.
    Miscelleneous general
     Schweitzer also went through the miscellaneous general budget.
     Miscellaneous general includes a variety of expenditures, including health insurance, for which $675,000 is budgeted, attorney fees in the event a conflict of interest prohibits the county attorney from representing the county in a case, and the county's share of E-911, Lincoln Area Agency on Aging, Southeast Nebraska Development District, Coordinated Intervention System for Domestic Abuse (CISDA) and Region V Services and Systems.
     New this year is sick leave payout. Schweitzer said smaller offices would be able to use this fund to pay unused sick leave without overspending their budgets.
     The total miscellaneous general request was $1,458,221, but after recommended cuts, the total came to $1,402,064.
     In an unrelated matter, Sheriff Joe Yocum announced the hire of Mike Vance to serve as a new deputy. Vance served as an undercover officer in Tennessee and has experience working with canine units.
     Yocum also announced that Ron Brown, a correctional department employee, will be promoted to patrol deputy following his graduation from the law enforcement academy. Mark Siebken, who also works in the correctional department, is slated to attend the academy, as well.
     In other business the board:
     - heard monthly reports from county officials;
     - heard a report from the Seward County Road Superintendent that the county's New Holland motor grader is in Omaha for a transmission replacement;
     - heard a report from Sandy Morrissey of Region V Rural Prevention Center and the center's Nebraska Meth Watch Program encouraging citizens to report possible meth labs and dealers;
     - approved the withdrawal of $565,000 of pledged securities by Jones National Bank and Trust;
     - authorized the chairman to sign an agreement for public transportation operating assistance from the federal government;
     - approved a resolution raising standards on bridge markings in Seward County; and
     - heard from Marvin Havlat, Pleasant Dale, on vandalism and the theft of a gate from his property.