A week from today, the Cole County Commission will hold a public hearing and vote whether to approve the 2017 county budget.
The proposed budget would grow by about 4 percent to $74.9 million.
At Tuesday's regular commission meeting, commissioners approved funding for a training officer for the sheriff's department, the only additional employee in the budget proposed by Auditor Kristen Berhorst.
With salary and benefits combined, the total cost to add the training officer would be $54,926. Sheriff John Wheeler said the new officer could multi-task and also help in recruiting and retention efforts.
Commissioners also approved allowing County Recorder of Deeds Ralph Bray to hire a fifth assistant for nine months. This will allow the office to get through the eventual retirement of one assistant and another who will be taking time off for maternity leave. Bray said this also will allow the office to handle the increasing amount of documents to be recorded. Once the nine months have passed, the office will return to having four full-time assistants.