Jasper County budget proposal includes pay raises and new funding for employees

CARTHAGE, Mo. — Eighty-six million dollars—that's the working total at the Jasper County Courthouse today.

Jasper County leaders are working on the 2025 budget, a spending plan that could see some big changes, starting with employee pay.

"We were able to implement a salary study this year, which increased our employees' salaries to what market says that they should be paid at. So every little bit helps," said Sarah Hoover, Jasper Co. Auditor.

The budget calls for nearly $1.4 million to catch county employees up with the pay rates in other counties.

"We were able to add 5% COLA on top of our market study. We were able to really fill every little gap that we had and then have extra to set back for reserve," said Hoover.

Another potential change—with a smaller price tag—would be expanding the county coroner's job to full-time. That would include a salary boost for the coroner from about $30,000 a year to nearly $72,000. It could also add two additional deputy coroners to his staff.

New tax revenue streams are helping to underwrite those costs.

"We have the recreational marijuana that is tracking at right at a million dollars a year annually. And then we also have the use tax that we just passed this year, and I proposed that we're going to get right at 3 million."

"We've got the marijuana tax that helped out a lot, and the use tax has helped out a lot. And so that's that. That's kind of how we're going to help with the wages and stuff," said John Bartosh, Jasper Co. Comm.

None of the changes are official yet. The commissioners hope to have a final version of the new budget by mid-December, in time for it to take effect on January 1.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com.

Rick Rieder, BlackRock Chief Investment Officer of Global Fixed Income, spoke to Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman about his thoughts on the US economy heading into a second Trump administration and how it could impact inflation levels, the Federal Reserve's rate-cutting plan, and the bond market. With Republicans looking to take not just the presidency but potentially both chambers of Congress, the president-elect's potential economic policies, including hefty tariffs on imported goods, are in focus. Rieder isn't convinced Donald Trump's stated plan to institute 60% tariffs on all Chinese imports will be as pervasive as promised on the campaign trail, anticipating more of a measured negotiation. But before Trump's policies are put into place, Rieder says, ''anyone who says they know what that looks like is lying," with the caveat that tariffs typically do tend to raise inflation and dull growth. More important, in his opinion, is the high level of US debt and the cost of debt services. According to the US Treasury, the national debt is roughly $35.9 trillion dollars, as of November 12. Rieder sees growing the economy at a rate that outruns the debt, paired with continued rate cuts from the Fed as a potential solution. To see every interview from Yahoo Finance Invest,. This post was written by Kayla Hawkins.

STORY: The German economy use to be described as Europe's growth engine.But it's underperformed euro zone peers since 2018.It's now facing further pain as car giant Volkswagen plans to shut factories at home.Adding to the woes, Germany's governing coalition collapsed last week, capping months of wrangling over budget policy and the direction of the economy.According to Reuters interviews with 12 executives, entrepreneurs and economists, it is overlooking an untapped growth potential in its services sector. The sector – which ranges from hospitality to finance and IT – is growing faster than the country's manufacturing industry. And while the segment is smaller compared to that of other European economies, it already makes up the bulk of Germany's economy.Services grew 1.6% in the first half of this year from a year ago.While manufacturing contracted by 2.8%.And the services sector represented 70% of Germany's gross domestic product last year.But business leaders say a suffocating bureaucracy and a culture of heavy regulation is stifling the creation of new companies and new jobs.They say this is particularly true for small and mid-sized businesses.Together, they make up over half of Germany's workforce.Overregulation is also exacerbating a labor shortage.Half of companies active in Germany's services sector say they struggle to find workers, according to a recent report. Many services sector professions, including lawyers and doctors, require specific legal standards and certificates to practice. But in Germany the requirements appear to be stricter and affecting a wider range of jobs.

After years of relatively high interest rates to bring down post-pandemic inflation, the Federal Reserve began to cut rates earlier this year, dropping another 0.25% at the central bank's meeting on November 7, 2024. Now the Federal Reserve is set to enter the new year with a new focus on keeping the economy humming along. Just a week after the 2024 US presidential election, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis president Neel Kashkari joins Yahoo Finance Senior Reporter Jennifer Schonberger at Yahoo Finance Invest. Kashkari shares his outlook for the economy and what to expect from the Fed in the future, especially with a second Trump presidency on the horizon. The Federal Reserve continues to be surprised by the resilience of the economy, which continues to have a strong labor market and an inflation rate hovering around 2.5%. The Fed cut interest rates by 25 basis points last week, with Kashkari believing that only a surprise upside in inflation could stall further rate cuts at the Fed's December meeting. "Three or four years ago, if you'd said to me, we're gonna raise interest rates by 500-plus basis points, I would've thought that would slam the brakes on the US economy," says Kashkari, noting that "it hasn't." When asked about how President-elect Donald Trump's policies might impact the fight against inflation and the Federal Reserve, Kashkari largely takes a wait-and-see stance. On tariffs, specifically, he mentions it would largely depend on how other countries respond and how that ends up feeding into inflation. "The real question is the tit-for-tat between countries, if they go back and forth escalating tariffs on each other, that could lead to a longer-term inflationary dynamic," according to Kashkari. Kashkari acknowledges housing inflation as "the big elephant that is still out there," but believes the trends are encouraging and the Fed will reach its 2% inflation target. To see every interview from Yahoo Finance Invest,. This post was written by Luke Brooks.