Highlights of the
budget draft were discussed by Gary Hetherington, a CPA from
Springfield who has done most of the legwork in assembling the
numbers.
According to
Hetherington, the budget starts out in the red, with a $201,432
deficit. Board chairman Dale Voyles noted that the tax cap passed in
1996 has caused the county to continue to pull from the reserve
funds in order to meet the budget each year. "With zero or even
negative growth, all the reserves will eventually disappear," he
said.
Voyles noted that
expenses such as health and liability insurance are increasing, and
the rate of inflation is not covering the expenses.
"I want to make sure
that the voters know that reserves will be depleted (with the
current tax cap)," Voyles said. "The reserves are now bare-bones --
after the county is broke, it is too late to turn around."
Hetherington noted
that the original deficit was close to $800,000 and had been reduced
significantly by making a "combination of adjustments," including
new tax revenues and cuts in the county bridge fund and the matching
taxing fund, as well as other cuts.
"We are currently
robbing Peter to pay Paul," Hetherington noted. The projects for
this year have not been cut, but there will not be an allotment for
future as well as unforeseen projects, such as further repairs to
the courthouse.
Hetherington said
that creating new revenues, such as the Goody's and Dollar Tree
business project, will help the county stay even.
Terry Werth asked how
the tax cap could be discontinued. Voyles noted that this was a
decision to be made by the voters. Sally Litterly, Logan County clerk, added that if voters proposed pulling the tax cap,
the proposal would have to be passed by Jan. 12 in order to be on
the March 2004 primary.
Litterly also noted
that a one-year relief from the tax cap could be requested in order
to build revenue.
Substantial increases
to this year's budget include the Illinois Municipal Retirement
Fund, which provides funds for all county employees.
Other increased
expenses include paying to use juvenile detention facilities for the
county's juvenile criminals. This housing runs about $250,000 per
year. Hetherington noted that the use of electronic detention
bracelets has saved about $50,000 in housing young prisoners. The
increase in the number of youth crimes in the county continues to
keep these numbers up, however.
