Published: July 01, 2009 04:47 pm      

GUEST COLUMN: County budget committee struggles

The Budget Committee continues to grind toward a balanced budget for Fiscal Year 2009-2010. The Board of Education (BOE) and Director of Schools (DOS) submitted another recommended budget, in the required format with complete information, on June 19. While substantial progress was made in balancing the budget, it still had a $724,000 deficit and included a request that the County Commission fund the expansion of the Pleasant Hill Elementary school from the County Debt Service Fund by issuing bonds or notes for $1.6 million.

The budget was rejected by unanimous vote of the committee due to the deficit even after we had given them a 7 percent increase in property tax funding. The consensus of the committee was that there was no additional money available in this tough economic environment for further increases. We agreed to consider the school expansion capital request after the budget is finalized, as we look at other capital outlay requirements that will require borrowing funds. The committee asked that they submit a final balanced budget for approval and meet with the Schools and Education Committee to go over the justification for the expansion at this time.

The General Fund (all county services including sheriff, jail operations, ambulance service, county fire department, judicial services, clerks, library, etc.) and Solid Waste Sanitation Fund (including recycle and convenience centers, trash disposal, etc.) are even more problematic. As of last Wednesday, these funds were forecasted to have about a $1.5 million deficit. We have asked the director of finance to modify the budgets, assuming there will be no salary increases for any county employees (excluding the school system) in the coming year. All new hiring has already been removed, except for the additional guards required when the new jail pod opens in the fourth quarter. We have applied for and are hoping to get a grant to help pay for them. We’ve asked that the assumption be made we suspend the longevity pay program for the coming year. We are assuming a reduction in hours that the convenience centers will be open and are accelerating our plan to make all staff at the centers part time. There are currently six full-time personnel and 26 part time. Even with these assumptions, it appears there will still be a need to increase property tax rates. We have not had a property tax rate increase in over four years, even though we have increased the portion of the property taxes collected to the school system by over 35 percent. We have redistributed collections from the debt service fund and other funds to keep the tax rate the same. We’ve run out of “peters” to rob to pay “pauls” and will most likely have to raise property taxes to get through the next fiscal year. The question of the hour is “how much.” Each of the last several years, I’ve said that eventually this would happen and now it looks like it will this fiscal year. After we look at the new numbers with all the reduction assumptions rolled in, we will determine how much is needed to balance all budgets and what tax rate we will recommend to the full commission. The economic recession has reached Cumberland County government. I will update you as more specifics come into focus and the budget is finalized.      

As always, please feel free to contact me with your questions, suggestions, concerns, issues or comments at 484-4137 or e-mail at cocomlynch@comcast.net.