Two Drafts of County Budget — With and Without Increased Tax — Available for Examination

2010 Preliminary “Survival Mode” Budget Book Available

By Stan Matthews
County Communications Program Manager

The preliminary San Juan County 2010 budgets are now available in detail for download from the County website at https://sanjuanco.com/Budget2010. The budget book includes two preliminary budgets – one based on existing revenue, the second includes estimated revenue from the proposed levy increase voters will consider in the November 3, 2010 election.

In his budget message to the County Council, Administrator Pete Rose described the next year as “perilous” with or without the levy increase – which is targeted primarily for specific programs including parks, Senior Services, and youth and volunteer programs now offered through the WSU Extension office. Rose noted, “The majority of departments will receive no benefit from the lid lift.” Even if it passes, he said, “Nothing comes back to its 2008 spending level.” (Information on how the revenue from a levy increase is earmarked is available at: https://www.sanjuanco.com/council/docs/Resolutions/2009/Resolution%2028-2009.pdf )

“The main effort in the proposed budget has been to try to hold as much of the organization together as is reasonably possible.  In doing so, all margin for error is gone, and the 2010 budget year will be perilous,” Rose writes.

“There is no money to overcome the normal situations that crop up during a budget year.  There is no flex in the general fund personnel funding to adapt to difficulty.  There is no extra reserve for short revenue projections.  There is no fund to tap to recover from the next leaking pipe in the basement.  Necessary capital progress will be made by borrowing.  The impact of anything unanticipated will be magnified.  We are not prepared for the foreseeable, such as unemployment costs, leave payoffs or printing [the County] code.”

The proposed levy increase would enable the County to maintain some of its most popular programs including Senior Services – scaled back from 2008 service level, but it would still maintain its transportation program and have service coordinators at Senior Centers on San Juan, Orcas and Lopez Islands.

County Parks are also in serious jeopardy without additional revenue – facing the prospect of shuttering Shaw and Village Green Parks and still having to deal with a sizable budget deficit.

Administrator Rose has recommended the merger of the Parks Department with the County Fair to reduce costs and take advantage of the individual departments’ strengths. Among the advantages of the merger he cites:

• Strengthen the planning process;
• Improve event planning, promotion and management;
• Enhance the grounds upkeep;
• Develop the proposed fairgrounds camping and promote group camping that can use both parks and fair facilities;
• Create a broader footprint of staff and budget that is larger, more efficient and more flexible than the two current smaller departments.

The Budget report shows that with or without the levy increase, the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs in the county workforce will be smaller lower than it was in 2007, 2008 or at the beginning of 2009. The “no-lift” budget anticipates that the County will have to shut down for a number of regular business days to save personnel and operating expenses.

Over all, both budget contingencies anticipate that the County will have less revenue and provide fewer services than it did in 2008.

The County Council has discussed the 2010 budget over the past two months and, at its October 7^th meeting, moved to have public hearings and deliberations on the budget option that is operative after the results of the November 3^rd election are known. That hearing is set for November 10.