[OCT. 18, 2005]
A straw vote at last Thursday's county board work
session indicated that the board would reject the new fiscal year
budget that will be presented tonight (Tuesday, Oct. 18). The whole
board had helped squeeze that budget to acceptable numbers at a
special meeting on Sept. 26.
However, that budget did not take into consideration the full
$65,500 for a county engineer's salary. Rather it planned that the
board would accept participation in a state program that allows the
board to pay the greater portion of that salary out of motor fuel
tax money.
A straw vote at last Thursday's meeting on
participating in the state program indicated that it would be
rejected at tonight's meeting, and it therefore put the budget in a
negative balance by end of next fiscal year.
Then the straw vote on the budget indicated that it would not be
passed either.
Therefore, county board finance chairman Chuck Ruben asked the
full board for their help in getting the new budget into the black
before it is presented at tonight's voting session. If it does not
pass tonight, the county will be delayed in starting the new fiscal
year with the new budget and will continue under the guidelines of
the current budget. The fiscal year begins Dec. 1.
Dale Voyles raised the issue that the county had agreed to sell
the non-tillable portion of the county farm after it was voted on to
do so last year. "Why aren't we selling it?" he asked.
He said that he has done some checking with realtors, and that
piece of ground might generate as much as $120,000 or more if sold.
The property in question is part of the county farm, located west of
old Route 121 on the north side of Kickapoo Creek. It is a hilly
parcel with trees and it is on a flood plain.
Paul Gleason was the only one who stood opposed to selling the
land. He said, "We've had that for many years. If we sell it this
year, what will we sell next year?" It has been a part of the county
since 1860, when the government gave it to us, he said.
The rest of the board was favorable in moving on this.
Voyles pointed out that the income from the sale of this property
would cover until the new public safety tax revenue reaches its full
income in the following year. He suggested to play it on the safer
side and estimate the sale at $100,000, and then he proposed that
$25,000 be taken out of that amount to put toward building repairs
for the courthouse. The rest could then be added to the general
budget.
Monday was the second time the full board was called on to assist
with the budget process. A special meeting was called for Sept. 26
for the same purpose. That meeting resulted in a budget that was
just barely in the black. Ruben and other board members said that
they were still uncomfortable with the near-zero pocket that was
projected. It would mean the county would be borrowing by this time
next year to meet end-of-year expenses that precede revenues. A
$200,000 end-of-year pocket is the preferred minimum for a county
our size.
The budget struggles are not the result of overspending or poor
planning, according to Ruben and Voyles. For several years while
Voyles was chairman of the board he was saying that unfunded
mandates, cuts in state and federal funds, and uncontrollable rising
costs such as insurances were reducing county reserves. A couple of
years of sluggish national and state economies and continued slower
local economy contributed as well. He accurately projected that the
county would be in the place it is today.
The finance committee had compounded struggles in getting this
year's budget together. The budget process was delayed by several
uncontrollable factors. The annual audit that compares figures from
the past and provides a guide to the present financial condition was
late due to new accounting procedures introduced by GASBY 34, a
state-mandated process.
Monthly reports are another measure the county uses to monitor
current financial conditions and project for the future. Each county
department -- such as the sheriff's department, the highway
department, circuit clerk's office and so on -- generates monthly
reports. The new system has just started producing the monthly
reports, which again, due to GASBY changes, make the reports
different and difficult to interpret.
The budget is slated to vote on tonight. The meeting begins as 7
p.m. in the downstairs courtroom. If the budget does not pass, the
board has another meeting scheduled for next Monday at 6 p.m. to
work on it some more.
