After

poring over the figures in five special work

sessions, Fayette County commissioners have added

almost a half million dollars to the county

budget for fiscal 2000.

Commissioners

last week approved a total operating budget of

$49 million and change, $461,394 higher than the

original $48.6 million budget document presented

month.

Commissioner

Greg Dunn, who took office in January, said he

was somewhat surprised at how lean the budget was

when county staff turned it over to the

commission. "We didn't find the waste and

the nonsense in the budget that we would have

found a year ago," Dunn told The Citizen

this week. "I think they did a darned good

job," he said of the staff.

Money

to fund the increased expenditures will come from

increased revenue projections. At the

commissioners' request, finance director Emory

McHugh revised revenue estimates upward in five

categories for a total of $500,000.

Most

of the increase in expenditures, $376,255, will

provide more deputies, cars and equipment for the

Sheriff's Department, and commissioners approved

the change after learning that the department is

handling increasing numbers of emergency calls

while maintaining low crime rates in the county.

When

the sheriff's increase was approved, Commissioner

Herb Frady urged his colleagues to dig into the

budget and cut other programs to make up the

difference, but as department head after

department head explained budget requests to the

commissioners during special meetings, the cuts

were not forthcoming.

Commissioners

did cut $3,600 from their own budget for cell

phones and pagers, and reduced the marshal's

office request by $5,268. An additional $9,000

was slashed from the parks and recreation budget.

But

the group also added $25,000 to help fund a

future senior citizens' center, $4,695 for the

Physical Health Department, $3,425 for the Zoning

Department, $9,136 for an additional clerk in the

State Court, $12,751 for more help in the tax

commissioner's office, and $48,000 in contingency

funds.

The

final budget represents about a 4.3 percent

increase over actual expenditures in fiscal 1999.

In

a memo to the board, McHugh said the increased

estimates represent "form over

substance."

"The

fact of the matter is that the board has decided

to increase appropriations for the upcoming

fiscal year and that decision will ultimately

impact the bottom line for operations in FY2000

as well as for future periods," McHugh

wrote.

In

previous years, he said, staff has estimated

revenues conservatively, just in case there's an

economic downturn. The economy has done well for

the last several years, but McHugh warned the

board not to become too complacent.

"An

unfortunate side effect of operating in favorable

economic conditions for such an extended period

of time is that it lulls one into a false sense

of financial security," he wrote.

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