HERMANN — Gasconade County’s operating budget is nudging $10 million, thanks in large part to strong sales tax revenue fueled by lingering inflation.

In the spending blueprint approved Jan. 31, county government is projected to have total available funds of slightly more than $9,500,000 while looking to spend $8.1 million. If the figures hold up as estimated, the county will end the year with a cash balance of $1.384 million.

In the all-important General Fund — the pot of money from which daily operations and expenses are financed — the county looks to take in $3,827,525 while spending $3,101,276. That leaves a year-end General Fund balance of $726,000 — a cushion that county officials could only have hoped for in previous years.

County Clerk Lesa Lietzow, the county’s chief budget officer, noted the good financial fortune resulting from sales taxes approved by voters in the past couple years — the Use Tax that’s applied to purchases made from out-of-state vendors and the Law Enforcement Sales Tax that is shared with five municipalities.

“The Use Tax proved to be more beneficial than ever expected this first year; while the statutes call for the Use Tax rate to mirror the county sales tax rate, without anyone really thinking about it, the passage of the new Law Enforcement Sales Tax automatically increased it by another half-cent as of Oct. 1, 2022. All of that contributed to General Revenue ending the year with a better balance than in any prior year,” she said in her budget message that accompanied the budget document.

Aside from General Revenue Fund money, much of the other money included in the budget represents pass-through funding, such as grants that come to the county and then go out to specific agencies who applied for the funding through county government.

The other major local component of the county budget is Road Department funding. While the General Fund shows a hefty year-end balance, the Road & Bridge Fund looks much different. The spending plan projects income of $2,986,524 and expenditures of $2,950,032, leaving a year-end balance of almost $36,500.

For Road Department workers, the budget contains pay raises and an increase in starting pay for new employees of $16 an hour, a move made to offer a competitive wage that should help in attracting job applicants. Several longtime employees are scheduled to retire this year, administrators said.

Likewise, employees at the courthouse will receive a pay boost this year. The County Commission approved a 5-percent hike for employees. Elected officials, also, will receive a 5-percent cost-of-living increase. And a new starting pay of $16 per hour has been approved for new hires throughout the various departments in the courthouse.

Commissioners are scheduled to meet again at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in Hermann.