Following a meticulous presentation on Greene County finances by budget director Jeff Scott, Commissioners Bob Dixon, Rusty MacLachlan and John Russell signed the official budget into law on Friday — despite a snow day in which almost all county offices were closed.
Greene County serves some 300,000 residents with its funding. Officials estimate revenues this year will come in at roughly $249.7 million. Saved up from previous years, the county also has some $34.8 million.
That’s the money that commissioners and the budget office say they can spend this year, totalling $284.6 million.
Jeff Scott is the budget director. He says in recent years, the county has simplified the way it highlights the budget for the public. They list out costs under just a few major categories like personnel, operations and capital expenses.
"This gives you a much clearer 10,000-foot view of county operations and how the tax money is being spent," Scott tells Ozarks Public Radio. "And then for the person that wants to go deeper and see the actual detail, that detail is there.”
That detail runs to thousands of line items, Scott says. Compare the Greene County budget of $284.6 million to the City of Springfield. The Queen City plans on spending $507.3 million in fiscal 2025.
And you can compare southwest Missouri’s two biggest local governments to the City of Kansas City. In March, their leaders approved a $2.3 billion budget, the largest in that city’s history.
