Final county budget vote this Tuesday: cash balance projected to fall short of $1.5 million mark

The San Juan County Council will vote on the revised county budget on Tuesday, Dec. 9. Last week, they heard from various citizen and county groups who were facing budget cuts. The council voted to re-instate the following budget items:
 $48,900 to restore a juvenile probation officer position
 $25,000 to the transportation program for senior citizens
 $25,000 for personnel to the Health Department
 Funding the office assistant position in the Council’s office as a ¾ time level.
(The position had been eliminated in the administrator’s preliminary budget.)
 Adding back a half-time office assistant to the Park’s Department
 $5,000 addition to the Council budget primarily for lobbying the state legislature
 $35,000 to fund the ARC Coordinator’s position
 $32,000 to the Sheriff’s department for personnel
 Adding back a department assistant in long-ranging planning position to the
Community Development and Planning Department budget.
 $15,000 to Lopez/Orcas youth programs

Council Member Gene Knapp asked that the vote on the budget be postponed until December 9 so that the Council and public would have time to review the document in its final form.
After the “add-backs,” Auditor Henley said her projected cash reserve for 2009 is now
$1.18 million. Through the budget process, she has urged the council to maintain a reserve of at least $1.5 million to deal with unexpected expenses or revenue fluctuations and to avoid cash flow problems.
At the end of the public hearing, Council Member Rich Peterson reminded his fellow
Council Members of the Auditor’s projections that the County would run out of money as early as 2010. He asked other members to commit to taking a property tax levy increase proposal to the voters in the near future. “If it’s turned down, then we have our marching orders to make a change.”
County Administrator Pete Rose prefaced the Council’s discussion of the proposed 2009
County Budget by saying, “The budget before you is a balanced budget . . . once you’ve settled on an ending cash balance then a dollar-in needs to be a dollar-out.”
Auditor Milene Henley followed by reporting bad news: the County’s cash balance at the end of November was lower than expected and she now projects that the County will end the year with about $200,000 less in the bank than she had previously predicted.
The public hearing was more subdued and briefer than many had expected, with speakers presenting signed petitions and urging the Council to find ways to protect senior services programs, support farmers by funding the Agricultural Resources Committee’s Coordinator and keep parks and public restrooms open.
David Dehlendorf long active with the San Juan Island Trails Committee came offering
money and a volunteer work force. He told the Council that he had raised $1,300 in donations and had 100 volunteers available to help fund and maintain the parks and public toilets that the Parks Department had anticipated closing, due to budget cutbacks.
Parks and Recreation Department Director Dona Wuthnow said that with volunteer help,
and the hope of a grant from the Lodging Tax funds and the restoration of a part-time support position, she may avoid having to close at least three day parks.
For more information on San Juan County’s 2009 budget, go to www.sanjuanco.com.