By Stan Matthews
County Communications Program Manager
In her Quarterly Financial Report to the County Council, San Juan County Auditor Milene Henley described 2010 as a “hold steady and hope for the best year” and, she said, in the first quarter of the year the County’s finances do appear to be holding steady.
She reported that revenue froom property tax and sales taxes is about what was expected at this point in the year and revenue from building permits is up, though the increase appears to be due to higher fees rather than increased demand for permits.
Taxes on the sale of real estate (“REET”) seemed to bottom out in February and were higher in both March and April, but year-to-date REET revenue is still lower than in the first quarter of 2009. Henley emphasized that it is too early to draw any conclusions about trends for the rest of the budget year.
When last year’s budget was adopted, Henley said, the Council and administration were aware that some anticipated costs – such as needed transfers to the County’s insurance reserve, unemployment claims, equipment expenses, and funds to comply with the Council’s directive to increase the budget’s cash reserve – had not been included in the budget.
County departments have been asked to reduce expenses across the board by 2% in order to cover those costs and Henley reported that all but $5,515 of the $260,722 in cuts have been identified. Voluntary employee furloughs account for more than one-third of the cost reductions.
Slides from the Auditor’s presentation, showing comparative year-to-year revenue and expenditure information, and other budget detail are available in “pdf” format at: sanjuanco.com/Docs/News/2010/1Q10_Fin_Rpt.pdf
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