The Clarke County Commission approved the fiscal 2008 budget during its Oct. 1 meeting. The balanced budget of $12,340,924.00 does not include any salary increases for county employees.

Commission Chairman Joe Hunt said the issue of raises would be revisited in November.

The largest items in the county General Fund include $1,945,021.00 (30.76 percent) for the Sheriff's Department and the county jail, $728,108 (11.51 percent) for the county commission and $486,508 (7.69 percent) for courthouse maintenance.

The General Fund accounts for $6,324,234 of the 2008 budget. The 2008 budget was modeled closely to the 2007 budget, said County Administrator Annie Deloise Morris. An expected $500,000 of tax revenue from Boise Cascade was not even figured in. There are no major cuts to any department, she said.

There is a cut in salaries for the county jail. In the 2007, the line item was $602,071; the actual cost was $424,000. For the 2008 budget, Morris adjusted the salary item at $460,000.

Almost half of the 2008 budget pays for compensation (salary and benefits) to county employees. Workers compensation insurance is "sky high," she said. That along with health insurance is becoming a burden when drafting the budget. "It's getting to be a serious problem," Commissioner Paul Bradford said Monday.

The county is anticipating help from officials with Auburn University's Center for Governmental Services on establishing guidelines for employee salaries. "They are trying to work us in," Morris told the commissioners. "…They (the AU center) did our original policy and procedures back in the '80s," she said Tuesday.

The last update of material in the personnel handbook and job descriptions was in 1993. Many job descriptions have changed due to advances in technology.

"It will give the commissioners a guideline to go by," she said. "Rather than giving percentage raises, they need to get on the level of doing step raises. At some point you top out, and you only get cost of living increases at that point. Or, they could put a plan in place to (give increases) for every year you have worked.…Percentages shoot up so fast."

In other action, Nick Norwood, Eunice Rouse and Lacy Sherman, all booking officers at the Clarke County Jail, were approved for a 50-cent per hour raise.