County Budget Cuts will be Significant, Changes may be Structural

By Stan Matthews
County Communications Program Manager

County Auditor Milene Henley ran through variations on six different budgeting scenarios for the County Council on Friday, June 5. Each scenario began with an immediate $1 million spending cut – approximately  15% of expenses for the 2^nd half 2009 – plus options as drastic as removing all funding for seniors programs and diverting more money from the County Road Fund. In the best of the outcomes, the County government would still run out of cash within three years.

She quoted a County Department manager as saying the impact of the proposed cutbacks, “is not losing weight, it is an amputation.”

County Administrator referred to the budgeting practices in the past in which the County has balanced the budget with Road Fund diversions and by eating into operating cash. “That has left us not well positioned for an upset in revenue like we are seeing now.”  He added, “Our short term problem is revenue, but our long term problem is structural.”

Rose will present almost $1 million in proposed budget cuts to the Council at its Monday work session. At that time County Department heads will describe the effect the proposed cuts will have on County services and operations.

County Auditor Henley told the Council that there is solid evidence that County revenues will fall at least $1 million short and perhaps as much as $1.5 million short. She said that other than property taxes, revenue has been down across the board.

“We’re seeing an economy in which people are doing less, spending less, putting off and that affects every aspect of their lives.”

At this point the hardest hit department has been the Community Development and Planning Office where building and land use permit revenue is down by more than one-third and 4 staff members have already been laid off.

Administrator Rose expressed concern about the affects on both the County’s ability to function and on its staff, “Most portions of this organization are not staffed and funded well. People already have trouble doing what they are assigned to do and there is the additional stress of not knowing what the future is. I sense this in my department and I sense it more in this organization than in any public organization I’ve ever managed.”

Rose ran through proposed dollar amounts reductions by department, but said that details of reductions in personnel costs would first have to be worked out with the County employee’s union before they could be discussed in public.

He is seeking quick action on the cuts so the Council can turn its attention to the 2010 budget, which may require even more cuts and – he said, a potential restructuring of the County Government. “We need to see if there are ways we can combine and flatten the County organization, and we will have to weigh the value versus costs of having service centers on three islands.

Rose also said that he will recommend that changes be made to business hours for some county functions to allow “more uninterrupted time for work efficiency.”

“The 2010 budget has to be balanced on an expenditures equals revenue basis. We have to resolve our downward slide in operating cash,” he said.

On a number of occasions Council Members have discussed the possibility of seeking a “levy lid-lift” election which would allow revenues from taxes on existing property to be increased by more than the 1 percent annual. Rose suggested that if a lid-lift is sought, the council create two budgets – showing what the County would do with the additional revenue if the measure succeeded.

The Council members accepted the administrative reports with grim faces and few comments.  Its budget workshop is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Monday on Monday June 8 and run until a closed session concerning labor negotiations begins at 3:30 p.m