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County must come up with $575,000 in budget cuts for ’10 & ’11
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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
Coming up with $260,000 more in cuts in the 2010 budget when already two months into 2010 and an additional $320,000 in cuts for 2011 is going to be quite an endeavor. But that’s exactly what the Houston County Board of Commissioners and staff is facing.
County Finance Director Casey Bradley brought the discussion to the March 2 board meeting.
“We need to get working on this right now,” Bradley told the board. “We can’t wait until we find out what the final figure is going to be in late March. Waiting will just have more negative impacts.”
Bradley told the board he has scheduled meetings with department heads every two weeks to discuss ways of handling the drastic cuts in county program aid (CPA).
The county is facing a two-year cut in (CPA) of $1.522 million if the plans Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced Feb. 15 become a reality.
To erase the projected $1.2 billion budget deficit, Gov. Pawlenty proposed to cut aid to cities and counties by $250 million.
Houston County was certified to receive $1,149,468 in CPA for 2010. That total was cut by $243,243 last fall during the 2009 unallotments announced by Pawlenty. At that time, the county cut approximately $250,000 from the 2010 budget to handle the unallotment.
If the current proposal by the Governor stands, the county will receive $447,761 in 2010, which is a cut of $701,707 over what was originally certified for 2010 by the state. Using the same formula for 2011, Houston County will receive $329,021 next year, which would be a cut of $820,447.
While the state aid cuts are not engraved in stone and still require both state House and Senate approval, Bradley predicts the cuts will be drastic.
“We’re suppose to receive our first CPA payment July 26 and our second one Dec. 26,” Bradley pointed out. “I just hope they (the state) make a final decision soon so we can make concrete contingency plans now.”
The board and department heads agree that the only items that won’t be on the chopping block are mandated programs.
“The mandated programs we’ll have to keep in the budget. Everything else will be up for budget amendments,” Bradley continued.
Bradley added that worksheets have been sent out to all the department heads. They have been asked to go through their budgets line by line to determine which expenditures are mandated, listing the state or federal statute requiring the expenditure and what services are provided.
Bradley then asked how the county board wanted him to handle the additional five employees that will be required to staff the Justice Center once it is completed in 2011. The bond payment for the Justice Center which Bradley feels will be somewhere between $500,000 and $600,000 is another item that must be considered.
Commissioner Larry Connery suggested the proposed cuts be divided into two tiers. Tier one would include the anticipated $577,000 the county will be faced to make in the 2010 and 2011 budgets if the current estimates in CPA cuts plays out. Tier two would include the costs of the Justice Center.
“Until we get the bids, we really don’t know what figures to use,” Connery pointed out. “We will know a lot more in May when the bids come in.”
Bradley also posed the question if the cuts the county will be making in the upcoming months will be permanent ones. He noted that predictions are that the state’s budget deficit will be much worse in the next biennium. At this point, no one has an answer to that question.
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