It’s becoming clearer how Wood County’s general fund will be spent in 2014, as those in the
commissioners office work to develop next year’s budget.Commissioners reviewed 2014 appropriations last
week and will discuss the matter again Dec. 17.Requests from county departments totaled $47,740,797 but
were reduced by nearly $10 million as items were slashed from the budget, shifted to permanent
improvements, made smaller, or put off until later. Half of the reductions come from the elimination of
a $5 million expansion of the booking and medical areas at the county jail, requested by the sheriff’s
office for several years."Everybody has been very reasonable with their requests and what they are
looking to spend," said Joe Fawcett, assistant county administrator.The budget is based on
$32,882,253 in estimated revenue next year, with a predicted cash balance of just under $8 million
carried over from 2013. The carryover will grow by $4 million to $5 million based on unexpended 2013
appropriations.Expenses are expected to be lower in 2014. More than $363,000 in annual debt payments are
coming off the books, money that was used in 1998 toward the sheriff’s office and a county facility on
Dunbridge Road.There are two building projects pending for 2014, an addition of the job and family
services facility and an expansion of the jail, which has been short on space, leaving the county to pay
others to house its prisoners.Some conditional items were removed, with the understanding that if they
become necessary, departments may come back to commissioners with requests.A target use for the county’s
2013 casino tax revenue is currently up in the air. In an effort to use the money on infrastructure to
benefit residents across the county, commissioners previously asked Engineer Ray Huber for a list of
bridge projects that could be designed ahead of schedule.Huber provided a prioritized list but indicated
having designs ready wouldn’t necessarily speed up any projects if construction funds were not also
available.Also unresolved is a potential pay raise for county employees. Fawcett said each 0.5-percent
increase would cost about $90,000 from the general fund."Right now, they’re still considering all
of their options," he said of commissioners’ approach to the raises.A small but potentially
meaningful item in the budget is $7,000 for grass replacement at the East Gypsy Lane Road office
complex. The county has experimented with different kinds of grass that could be mowed as little as once
per year.Fawcett said they’ve experimented with prairie grass over the last several years, but the
newest try will be with a Scottish links variety. Information was not available on how much is spent on
maintaining grass each year, but "the time that we spend mowing is crazy," he added.Requests
that have not been approved but presently remain in the budget include:• Replacing a chiller at the
justice center, $200,000.• Repair of the courthouse tunnel, $43,000.• Ceiling repair of probate court
and Courtroom 1, $37,300.• Paint and building repairs at the East Gypsy Lane Road complex, $23,000.•
HVAC upgrades to the Dunbridge Road facility, $100,000.• Rooftop air conditioning units at the sheriff’s
office, $27,000.SClB• Scanners and computers for the court records center, $20,000• In-car cameras and
computers for the sheriff’s office, $47,820• Six cruisers, one SUV and equipment for the sheriff’s
office, $211,110Items requested but tentatively removed from the strategic budget include:• Software
expansion for human resources documents, $10,000• New truck for weights and measures division of the
auditor’s office, $29,500• Three mowers were reduced to one, from $95,691 to $31,897.• New session room
table for the commissioners, $7,000.• Seven replacement radar units for sheriff’s office vehicles,
$9,100• Time management records software, $7,500• Upgrading of 11 jail security cameras, $24,430• Six
additional sheriff’s office vehicles for 2015, $138,000