Nearly $70 million slated for 2015 Cole County budget

Cole County commissioners approved a nearly $68 million 2015 budget Monday morning.

The commission has been meeting for the last few weeks to set the budget. With a major construction project on Highway 50 nearly complete, the cost of operating the county has gone down for 2015.

The plan includes salaries, road and bridge projects, and operations for elected officials.

Commissioners said the county will only spend about $48 million in the year ahead and plans to put the remaining money in reserve.

The commission also decided to continue to fully cover all employees health insurance.

Major items in this year’s budget include a cooperative project with Jefferson City; the Monroe Street and Stadium interchange near Capital Region Medical Center’s expansion. The county is also looking at upgrading gravel roads, a bridge project, and a sidewalk project at Pioneer Trail Elementary.

“We don’t anticipate any big growth projects this year although we will have some, but we tried to not bring on any full time employees, and not to add any full time employees. We wanted to make sure we gave all of our people a raise and so we achieved that with 2% and a merit pool,” said Western District Commissioner Kris Scheperle.

Commissioners opened up the budget process this morning to public comment and there was none.