County Council Adopts 2010 Budget

By Stan Matthews
County Communications Program Manager

At a special session on Monday, November 30, 2009, the San Juan County Council unanimously adopted the County’s 2010 budget.

The adopted General Fund totals $13.4 million which – despite the addition of the $960,000 levy lid-lift approved by voters in November – is almost $762,000 lower than the County’s expenditures in 2008.

County Administrator Pete Rose said that the budget will fund 147 full time equivalent County jobs, 20 fewer than two years ago. However because of the levy lid-lift the County will be able to fund 7.5 more positions than it could fund after budget cuts in the second half of the 2009 budget year.

Though the budget has been adopted, the Council’s budget subcommittee will continue to work to improve the County’s cash position and make its financial situation more sustainable. In September, the Council adopted an ordinance requiring adopted General Fund budgets to be balanced to in an end of the year operating cash balance of no less than 8 percent unless the Council issues a finding that an emergency exists. Monday the Council had to make such a finding in order to adopt the 2010 budget.

“The budget, as you know, includes some items where we’ve had to mumble and look at the floor while putting them on the table,” Administrator Rose told the council. Those items include drastic reductions or elimination from the budget of funding for such things as separation costs for employees who are laid off or who retire with accumulated vacation time, unemployment expense and for emergency reserves to cover the cost of incidents such as the water line break at the County Courthouse this year.

In addition to the General Operating fund budget, the Council’s action Monday adopted budgets for the Grants Fund, which totals approximately $2.4 million in grants received; the $24 million “Special Revenue Fund” – which includes revenue earmarked for specific purposes, such as the Road Fund and the Land Bank; and a $4.9 million budget for Enterprise funds – which include the Solid Waste and Storm Water Utilities.
The budget ordinance and other budget documents are available online by clicking here:  sanjuanco.com/Budget2010/