County commissioners and Callaway County Auditor Karen Rentschler met Thursday morning to resolve a minor budget issue.
"I spotted the error while preparing the 60 pages of documentation that go with the budget," Rentschler said.
The issue, caused by the budgeting software, affected the grand total expenditure.
"The software read the year, 2017, as a dollar amount," Presiding Commissioner Gary Jungermann explained.
This error occurred in the budgets of four departments. It meant the final expenditure printed in the version of the budget approved Jan. 10 was several thousand dollars higher than the true final expenditure.
"The change in this has no effect on any individual budget," Jungermann said. "Our anticipated revenue has not changed."
The commision approved a motion by Eastern District Commissioner Randy Kleindienst to clarify the budget total, given they had to pass a motion to pass the budget.
The true expenditure total for the 2017 budget is $16,739,256 and includes a small adjustment to the county clerk's budget passed on Jan. 10.
"(The software is) just an Excel spreadsheet," Rentschler explained.
"We make changes from October to December on that budget constantly."
In other words, Rentschler said, it's possible for small mistakes such as this one to slip in, but ultimately no damage has been done.