Although the 2005 budget won't

be adopted for another six months, the Fayette County Commission sent

a clear message of financial conservatism at last Thursday's retreat.

For the last two years, the

county has not approved any new personnel requests from its administrative

departments.

This year, the county officials

will listen to the proposals, but warn department heads that any new request

will have to be documented thoroughly.

"We plan to raise the

bar for any personnel increases," said finance director Mark Pulliam.

County Administrator Chris

Cofty said the county's departments have honored the board's

request for no new personnel, but said the county ran into problems with

requests from the constitutional officers such as the sheriff.

In starting preliminary work

on this year's budget, Pulliam said his objective is to shorten the

process and achieve a better quality budget process. The finance director

said three issues would play a huge part in this year's budget proceedings:

The state of the economy, providing services and funding capital projects.

Pulliam plans to distribute

budget packets Feb. 12 and have the recommended budgets to the commissioners