Step up and make your case.

Leaders of about 35 Douglas County departments and agencies will do that on the public stage beginning today as county commissioners start budget hearings at 8 a.m. at the courthouse, 1100 Mass.

All social service agencies are facing a 3 percent cut fromwhat they received last year in county funding because commissioners don’t appear to have an appetite for increasing property taxes for the 2010 budget.

“The truth is, we’ll be serving less meals to seniors this year than we did last year,” said John Glassman, director of Douglas County Senior Services.

Glassman’s agency could receive $15,000 less than it did in 2009, which would cut into meals served either through home delivery or at centers across the county. It’s a difficult decision because the agency serves about 70,000 meals in the county annually, he said.

Commissioners want to hear more from the agencies before they finalize their budget, and they are more willing to look at the needs of each agency and department instead of an across-the-board cut.

County Administrator Craig Weinaug has presented commissioners with a budget proposal that keeps the county’s property tax mill levy flat. Because the recession has decreased property values in the county, commissioners still need to look at cuts.

According to updated projections on Friday, the 2010 budget proposal includes spending $35.9 million compared with $36.5 million in 2009.

Commissioner Jim Flory said the decrease in revenue gives commissioners a chance to look at each agency’s efficiency, but he noted that many already had cut back in recent years.

“There really aren’t any frills or extras,” Flory said.

The budget does include a 1 percent cost-of-living raise for county employees, but the county has frozen merit raises for the year.

Much of the discussions will center on funding for those who provide public health services, Commissioner Nancy Thellman said.

A 3 percent cut could result in staff cuts at agencies like Independence Inc., Cottonwood Inc. and the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center. It would also affect indigent care services of the Douglas County Visiting Nurses Association and reduce the ability for Lawrence Douglas County Health Department to respond to communicable disease outbreaks.

“I’m concerned with not having the social service agencies be the first and hardest hit right now,” Thellman said.