Logan County Board expected to wait budget approval

[October 16, 2017] 

On Thursday, October 12, the Logan County Board held its monthly workshop to set the agenda for Tuesday's Regular Board meeting and hear committee updates. One brief discussion was on the budget for Fiscal Year 2017-2018.

Finance Committee Chairman David Hepler said he would motion Tuesday to take the budget off display. Hepler said he would also motion to postpone the vote on the budget until November until more decisions are made.

Board Chairman Chuck Ruben said there are still some questions about the budget, so it may be better to delay the vote.

At Tuesday's Finance Committee meeting, there was discussion about the anticipated $400,000 in new wind farm money and also the cuts made in the budget.

Hepler said County Engineer Bret Aukamp is still working on the road-use agreements needed for the Hilltopper Wind Farm project. Hepler said the parties appear to be close to making an agreement, but it has not gone through yet.

Hepler said it sounds like work on the road agreement has been backed up due to a busy attorney. He is hoping Aukamp has documents next month.

Ruben said Aukamp has been researching his end of the road-use agreement, and on the bright side the developers are pushing to get the road-use agreement because they want to build. Ruben said that makes him feel better about the permit fees coming in.

Board member Dave Blankenship said he would be in support of a contingency budget because he does not want to depend on anticipation money that may not come through.

Board member Scott Schaffenacker said he would be in favor of a contingency budget, too. He has questions about the three biggest line item increases from last year to this year. Schaffenacker also asked about looking at the largest revenue decreases and savings from this year to last year.

Ruben said "The budget we pass is the budget we have. Let's say you wanted to take $400,000 out of this budget. You have to take $400,000 out of it now and pass that." He said there would not be a "provision for putting it back in unless you put it into another area of the budget so it can be accessed."

Ruben said it is not like we cannot go forward with what it is now. [The] $400,000 is a big part of the budget. He said there is $1 million in anticipation, which goes in and out.

Ruben said they have "never had to carry an anticipation award over, but it can be done." He said if they come up short of the $400,000, they could roll $400,000 of the anticipation warrant into the next year, but they would have to make very severe cuts into the next year [after].

Ruben said the cuts will have to come sooner or later, but it depends on how severely the board wants to do them in one stroke. He said one year there were 13 percent cuts. Ruben said cuts are a lot more "palatable" when spread out over a couple years. There are a lot of questions out there.

Board member Gene Rohlfs asked what they are "saving" with five percent cuts across the budget.

Logan County Treasurer Penny Thomas said these cuts would save over $400,000. She said to wipe out the anticipated permit fee amount completely, cuts would need to be seven and a half percent.

Thomas said five percent cuts across the board are fair, but while some departments could make a little more of a cut, others are already down to a bare minimum.

Ruben said there are items in the budget that cannot be cut. Reimbursable items like probation fees cannot be cut. Cutting another five percent on the budget would likely mean that every department would lose a person.

Blankenship said if deeper cuts are needed down the road, he feels it would be better to do cuts over a two-year period.

Board member Janet Dahmm said she does not like spending money not appropriated for, and would not mind splitting up cuts over two years. She would not mind waiting to vote on the budget.

Rohlfs asked why non-union county employees are getting a two percent raises that amounts to a total of $45,000 more in the budget. He wants to know why they are cutting department budgets by five percent but then adding in the two percent increases.

Hepler said committee recommendations would not be brought to the board until the budget is off display. He would be more comfortable voting on the budget in November hoping the board has a better handle on whether the permit fees are coming in.

On Tuesday, the board will vote on whether to postpone the vote to approve the budget until November.

[Angela Reiners]