The Webster County supervisors reviewed next fiscal year’s proposed budget for community social services and substance abuse Tuesday afternoon.

The 2018-2019 fiscal year begins on July 1.

Alison Hauser, the Webster County coordinator of disability services and community services administrator, presented the proposed budget.

The proposed budget for mental health administration is $2,252,131, down from $2,510,627.

“What I noticed is I will have to ask for a budget amendment,” she said, referring to the current budget year. “We have already spent $46,731 on 37 clients. We are only halfway through our fiscal year.”

Hauser requested $50,528 for a current administration position, an increase from $35,984 from the 2018 budget.

Supervisors questioned that increase, asking if it was just for one person.

“Originally time was allocated to the GA budget,” Hauser said, referring to the general assistance program now run by the Webster County Health Department. “She was also allocated to case management. We no longer have those. Now it’s just under one to make it easy.”

The proposed budget included a drop in transportation costs.

“I have lowered the transportation,” Hauser said. “We haven’t had a lot of long transportation. I reduced that to $2,000.”

The 2018 budgeted amount for transportation was $3,000.

“Overall, in a nutshell you are $300,000 less in a budget, even though the amount we pay quarterly is up, the overall drop between those is because we put more services to case management,” Supervisor Keith Dencklau said.