Major decisions concerning economic development initiatives and improving jail services await the Douglas County commissioners on Monday as they start discussing the county government’s 2008 budget proposal.

If approved as recommended by County Administrator Craig Weinaug, a tax levy increase just short of 1 mill will be required to support the budget.

“My hope is, and still my goal is that we can do what we need to do without actually increasing the mill,” Commission Chairman Bob Johnson said. “I think it might be unrealistic to expect a mill reduction, although that would be nice.”

The 2007 county budget required a 30.013 mill levy. A 30.751 mill levy is proposed for the 2008 budget, for an increase of 0.738 mills. A mill is $1 in taxes for every $1,000 in assessed valuation.

The county government’s portion of the property tax on a $200,000 house would be $706. The final tax amount would also include school district and city tax levies.

The new budget proposes nearly $500,000 for economic development that would include funding for the new bioscience incubator in the former spec building in the East Hills Business Park. An agreement initially called for the city of Lawrence and the county to put up $125,000 each per year over the next 10 years for the project.

The economic development funding also would include preparing for potential industry at another site on land that’s available on either the east or west side of East Hills. That preparation would include improving drainage, building roads and other infrastructure so it will be ready for future industrial prospects when they come looking for a site, Weinaug said. It should be done in conjunction with the city and Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, he said.

“I think it’s going to take some public investment up front to attract industry,” Weinaug said.

The new jail funding calls for hiring three people for rehabilitation and transitional services. The intent is to improve services that help give inmates who leave the jail better opportunities to stay out of jail, Weinaug said. The total funding proposed is $189,576.

The hiring of an additional officer for Douglas County Youth Services also is proposed, requiring $39,060. Officials hope the additional officer will relieve on-call concerns that employees have, which have led to high employee turnover, Weinaug said.

“They couldn’t plan free time with their families because of being subject to call,” he said.

In previous years, the county could count on the property tax base increasing 6 percent to 8 percent annually, Weinaug said. Those increases allowed the county to fund new incentives, he said. This year’s increase has only been 3 percent. The Kansas Legislature removed the tax on business machinery and implements, which was money that was going to the counties. The real estate market also has not grown as fast as previous years. Sales tax collection increases also have not risen as fast, Weinaug said.

Commissioners have the final say on the budget.

“What is in the budget is a starting point for discussion,” Weinaug said. “The County Commission has never adopted the budget exactly the way I presented it. They typically make changes and exercise lots of the options that I give them.”

That likely will happen again this year, commissioners said.

Commissioner Jere McElhaney said he will ask Sheriff Ken McGovern if there are other areas in his budget that can be cut to make room to fund transitional services.

And McElhaney said he wants to know results will come from economic development spending.

“It’s a lot like batting practice in baseball,” McElhaney said. “You can do so much, but if you are not getting results, you need to change something or do something different in the game.”

Commissioner Charles Jones said cuts will have to be made if the Commission wants to maintain a tight budget and adopt new funding initiatives.

“I think Craig did the right thing in proposing all these options for us, but my intuition is that there is not going to be two votes to put all that money in the budget,” Jones said.