The Jefferson County Council recently approved a $180,018,570 budget for 2025. That’s $30 million more than the previous year’s budget.
Jefferson County Executive Dennis Gannon said the large increase in spending is mostly due to state funding allocated for county road projects and the county’s effort to spend the rest of its federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act, which came from the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill Congress passed in March 2021 to help the U.S. recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The county’s general revenue fund, which is used to pay for most of the county’s operations, increased this year from $33,908,569 to $55,441,452.
The more than $20 million bump is due mainly to $10.5 million in state funding the county is receiving for the James Hardie project, said David Courtway, the county’s director of administration. The state funds will be used to improve the transportation network around the former Festus Memorial Airport in Crystal City in preparation for the construction of the James Hardie manufacturing plant. The county budget also includes about $6.5 million in leftover state funding from Phase one of the Hardie project, which will be used in subsequent phases of construction, Courtway said.
The rest of the bump in revenue comes from a “hodgepodge” of places, Courtway said, including grants and revenue from the county’s 3-cent sales tax on the sale of recreational marijuana. County voters approved that sales tax last April.
“I am comfortable saying I believe it’s a conservative budget and we absolutely will be able to meet the budget and expenditures,” Gannon said. “We still have the balance of some ARPA money left to get out, and we also added money – a pretty significant bump – that the county received for the James Hardie project. It’s not new revenue necessarily, as far as generated by the local county; it’s revenue we received from the state for road projects we’re working on.”
County Auditor Kristy Apprill said the county received a total of $43.7 million ARPA funds and the $27 million the county had left was allocated for various projects in the 2025 budget. Some of the largest infrastructure projects to be funded with those ARPA funds include the infrastructure needed for the James Hardie plant to be built, the upcoming construction of the Sheriff’s Office’s forensic crime lab to be built in Pevely and the local match for the construction of an Amtrak station to be built in De Soto.
Apprill said some of the ARPA money will also go to replace technology and increase broadband connection in the county.
High Ridge Civic Center
The council voted 5-1 on Dec. 19 to approve the budget. Bob Tullock (District 7, House Springs) voted against the bill, and Scott Seek (District 5, Festus) was absent.
At the Nov. 26 meeting, when the proposed budget was first introduced, chairman Charles Groeteke (District 4, Barnhart) proposed an amendment that would have eliminated a $180,000 expenditure for engineering plans related to the possible replacement of the High Ridge Civic Center in District 1 and reallocated the money to the county’s code enforcement division to clean up public nuisance properties throughout the county.
The council voted 5-2 to accept the amendment to the budget, effectively taking away funding from the new community center. Seek and Brian Haskins (District 1, High Ridge) voted against the amendment.
At the following meeting, on Dec. 9, however, Groeteke proposed an amendment to reverse the amendment, with Tullock casting the lone vote against that measure.
“Since our last meeting, where the council amended the 2025 proposed budget, there have been many discussions with the executive, the auditor, the staff and our legal counsel by myself and Councilman Tullock and Councilman (Tim Brown),” Groeteke said. “The county executive assured me that we will work through the process in the new year and come to a solution for all the questions that were brought about by these discussions.”
Tullock said he voted against approving the budget because he didn’t agree with the reversal of the amendment regarding the High Ridge Civic Center.
Additionally, Tullock said he would like to see the budget approval process changed to give the council more time to make amendments before it must be passed by the Dec. 31 deadline.
“We were (planning on) spending $180,000 just for engineering plans (for the proposed High Ridge Civic Center replacement),” Tullock said. “Let’s say that the engineering plans come back and we say, ‘Well, yeah, we can do the building, but it’s going to cost $2 million, $3 million or $4 million. Why spend it? I saw a better allocation of funds, or at least better budgeting for funds. In my district, about half the calls I get (from constituents) are about derelict properties, mobile home parks that are dilapidated and drug areas.”
Tullock said he believes the money set aside for engineering plans would be wasted because there “didn’t seem to be enough interest on the council to support” the new community center.
“Why budget for it and why spend time – staff’s time – preparing legislation that is simply not going to pass?” he said. “I’m trying to do my best as a representative. We (the council) discussed this a few other times in open meetings, and I just didn’t see it as something that would benefit Jefferson County as a whole.”
The $180,000 Civic Center funding will be used to study the feasibility of replacing the facility and then to draft plans for a new community center. The county purchased the community center, 2800 Community Lane, from the High Ridge Improvement Association for $1 in 1994. The facility was built in 1965.
Gannon said each year about 4,000 people visit the center, which offers fitness classes; basketball and pickleball courts; a playground; a pavilion and a walking trail.
“For $1, I would say there’s been a lot of good programs through there, and a lot of benefits that have helped a lot of people,” Haskins said of the High Ridge Civic Center. “I would think my colleagues would agree that improving one district improves every other district. I would never vote against another colleague’s improvements in their district.”
Gannon said $200,000 is set aside in the 2025 budget to address the county’s nuisance properties, and he believes that is adequate. The code enforcement division will receive $100,00 for public nuisance abatement, and the county intends to use $100,000 of ARPA funding for the same issue.
“(Tullock) thinks it’s wrong putting money in a building we use on a daily basis, rather than to clean up somebody’s personal, private property. I have trouble with that,” Gannon said. “I do not understand taking money from a building you own, that you operate, that is functional and taking it to clean up somebody’s private property.”
Tullock said he voted in favor of the High Ridge Boulevard improvement project in 2023, which was completed this fall. The project cost $2.69 million and funded the installation of new sidewalks and streetlights along the 4,500-foot-long stretch of road, as well as storm sewer improvements. The county used $1.75 million in federal dollars to pay for the project, with the county covering the rest with its share of a 1/2-cent sales tax collected to fund road and bridge improvements.
“I understand that (the High Ridge Boulevard improvement project) benefited and improved the area, and I supported it quickly,” Tullock said. “But we can’t keep funding just one area of Jefferson County. My people are saying, ‘Well, wait a minute, what about District 7?’ We need to start being a little more equitable.”
District 7 covers a large area of the southwest portion of the county, including House Springs, Cedar Hill, Dittmer, and parts of Hillsboro.
The budget
The county’s charter requires the council to approve a balanced budget, meaning the county’s anticipated spending must match its estimated revenue.
The county’s general operations primarily are funded through a 1/2-cent sales tax, as well as another 1/2-cent sales tax collected for law enforcement and a third sales tax collected for road and bridge improvements. The sales taxes are expected to bring in more than $41 million for the county during the 2025 fiscal year. Some of the other operating costs are funded through departmental fees and licenses and grants.
Gannon said in a Nov. 1 letter to the County Council that staffing turnover and workforce shortages “continued to put pressure” on the county to raise pay to attract and retain employees.
The 2025 budget includes a 5 percent cost of living increase for approximately 573 of the county’s 670 employees. The total county payroll will cost $41,793,579, with $1,609,812 dedicated to the cost-of-living increase, Courtway said.
“That increase is to compensate (staff) for the job they do, as well as to try to retain them,” Gannon said. “It’s very competitive in the marketplace for workers, so we want to keep them, and we’re also very thankful for the job they’re doing.”
Courtway said certain staff in the Public Works and Parks and Recreation departments will not receive the raises because they are under different contract agreements, or their salaries are set by state statute.
As part of the 2025 budget, the county has allocated $25.6 million for road and bridge projects, with an estimated $14.2 million coming from the county’s 1/2-cent road tax and another $8 million available in federal aid reimbursement.
Those road and bridge projects include replacing the Commerce Drive bridge in Imperial; making safety improvements on Old Lemay Ferry Road in Imperial and on Antire Road in High Ridge; replacing the Boyce Lane Low Water Bridge south of Festus; adding safety improvements, including sidewalks and streetlights, to Gravois Road in House Springs; and realigning a portion of Sulphur Springs Road in Barnhart.
“Jefferson County has continued to benefit from a strong financial footing in recent years due to responsible and conservative fiscal management,” Gannon said. “(The 2025 budget) continues to provide the funding that is required to deliver essential services to the citizens of Jefferson County.”