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Board members discussed at length the
potentials for shortfalls and gains in the year to come. Finance
chairman Chuck Ruben, board chair Dale Voyles and Andy Lascody, a
consultant of Sikich Gardner, addressed specific questions and
explained in detail many variable factors the budget will be subject
to throughout the year.
Given the forecast for potential
shortfalls, at least one member was concerned about adopting the
current proposal. John Stewart of Mount Pulaski tried to get a
motion passed that would allow board members another week to look for
things to cut now rather than possibly facing cuts in county
services or layoffs later in the year. "I feel we should look to the
health and safety of the county," he said.
He cited expenses in the budget that
might be cut now, such as the $25,000 allotted to the Lincoln and
Logan County Development Partnership for economic development and
$5,000 for the tourism office move. "I don't want to have to come
back here six months from now and look at this and say we gave money
to these separate entities but we're going to have to lay off some
people now," he said.
In addition Stewart observed that it
appeared that some department budgets had been cut. Animal control
no longer showed funds for part-time help. However, it was explained
that those funds are there for use just as they have been in the
past.
Ruben explained that funds for
part-time help for animal control are still in their budget to be
written in as a line item. This provides more discretionary use of
the funds as seen fit by those who manage any of the departments,
such as, in the case of animal control, by the warden, veterinarian
and committee in charge.
He added that the budgets for all
the departments, including animal control, are the same as last year
except for the sheriff's. The sheriff's department is $19,000 less
than last year.
In a motion that lost 8-4, board members Patrick O'Neill, Dick
Logan and David Hepler joined Stewart in preferring to delay
approval of the budget.
One change was made to the budget
during the meeting. There was an oversight made in the sheriff's
department. Two part-time security officers for courtroom security
at $20,000 are replacing a sheriff's deputy. This puts a deputy back
on the streets and transfers $15,000 back to the general fund, Ruben
said.
Controlled increased expenses:
- 2 percent salary raise for
non-union county workers
Uncontrolled increased expenses:
- Health insurance
- Liability insurance
- Computer system that handles
mandated changes in accounting county assets
- Mandated pay increase for
election judges
Possible
temporary revenue:
- A portion of the county farm off
Old 121 by Kickapoo Creek that is low in production may be sold
off.
When last year's budget was made, it
was projected to end with a $1.4 million balance and came in at $1
million, leaving a $400,000 shortfall. This year's budget was to end
with a $1 million balance, is at $785,000 and could be at $600,000
by the end of the fiscal year. If the new budget goes as
anticipated, Lascody said, that fund balance could dip down to
$243,000.
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The shortfalls were a concern to all
board members. But in evaluating the past and future, Voyles said
that, overall, expenses by departments have held even and the deficit
is caused by uncontrollable increases such as health insurance. It
was not until after the yearly audit was returned in July that the
county learned of the shortages. It is kind of difficult to do
anything about that when that information comes in so late in the
fiscal year.
However, this year the county does
not expect to have any late surprises like that sprung on them, because of the new computer system's capability to generate regular
reports. The county will be able to see if there are shortages and
modify much sooner, both Voyles and Ruben said.
If the budget goes as anticipated,
the general fund is going to dip down to about $240,000 by the end
of the next fiscal year.
A healthy fund balance for the county
to have can be based on either revenues or expenditures: 15 percent of
revenues or two months of expenditures. Lascody said that in Logan
County's case that would be between $600,000 and $800,000.
With few options to increase
revenues, the county is planning to put a 0.5 percent retailers
occupation tax on the April ballot. While the tax is labeled as
usable for public safety, it will aid in recovering some of the
revenue losses, Ruben said. The $800,000 this measure would generate
would just balance expenses to bring the budget back in line for the
following 2006 fiscal year.
Economic development chairman Terry
Werth added that choosing a retail sales tax distributes the draw
from everyone and avoids burdening just a local population, such as
if property taxes were raised.
Veronica Hasprey addressed board
members, saying she felt the finance committee did a good job with
what they had to work with.
Voyles made the following
statements: What the finance committee has done is the result
of several months of meetings and preparation to develop a budget
for the board. Those numbers will not change; they are what they are
and there's no changing them. We trusted them to come up with the
budget. They put in long hours and worked hard on it. Everyone was
invited to attend the meetings. He urged board members to pass it.
Voyles also pointed out that there wasn't really anything added to
it compared with last
year's budget other than uncontrolled increases in costs. He agreed
that they may be looking at it to cut costs in the future, but it
wouldn't be like last year, as there will be an advantage from the
new computer-generated reports that will show more information
sooner.
He also said that mandated costs are
driving our budget and those are beyond our control. They are costs
for law enforcement and the connected services of juvenile detention
and court costs. Those are over $3.1 million of the $5.5 million
budget. "That [the combined law enforcement and high juvenile
detention and court expenses] should tell us we have a problem,"
Voyles said.
The budget was passed 9-3 with
Stewart, Hepler and O'Neill voting no.
[Jan
Youngquist] |
