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County Council faces huge budget task; $1.8 million must be cut
The annual county budget hearing ritual slated for next week is usually a laborious and sometimes exhausting task.
This year may be especially painful for members of the Greene County Council and county officeholders who will attempt to whittle about $1.8 million out of the 2009 budget before the process ends.
The process will start Tuesday morning with a short public hearing starting at 9 a.m. in the commissioner's room (third floor) of the county courthouse in Bloomfield.
"They (the budget hearings) are always the biggest task that we (the county council) has every year. This year it's an even bigger task with all the (state) cuts plus the additional (budget) reviews of everything. It's one of the things that we're going to have to get through and we will get through it, but we're kind of going in unchartered territories," Greene County Council President Ed Cullison told the Greene County Daily World on Wednesday. "We'll keep our fingers crossed and with a hope and a prayer we'll get through it."
Following the public hearing the face-to-face meetings with those responsible for the different parts of the county budget will begin and continue until noon Thursday.
Extra time has been allotted for the county to recall any officeholders Thursday afternoon if additional cuts need to be made.
Meeting the budget goal will be a challenge, according to Cullison.
The council, charged with budgetary duties, will be forced to make at least $1.8 million in cuts from the preliminary 2009 budgets submitted by the various officeholders and department heads, Cullison said.
The pre-hearing requests total $8.8 million in the General Fund and that figures needs to be trimmed to about $7 million to meet the projected revenue expectations, Cullison said.
The amount that needs to be cut is the highest it has been in the last five years.
Last year, the council was successful in taking $1.5 million out of the budget before the hearings ended. The previous year $1.65 million was axed and in 2005 $1.7 million was removed. In the 2004, $1.1 million was culled and $900,000 in 2003.
The "big dollar" budgets are traditionally the sheriff, jail, commissioners, highway department and the prosecutor's office, Cullison said. He doesn't expect that to change.
Cullison said he's still in the process of looking over the preliminary budget figures, but he noted that the rising cost of fuel is a main concern -- especially with the sheriff's, highway department and ambulance service budgets.
The council president said the seven-member council generally tries to factor in pay raises for county employees as the hearings progress and makes a final decision on the wages during the final day of the hearings.
Last year, full-time county workers got $1,000 raises -- the first time pay was increased in a couple of years.
When asked if raises for county workers might be questionable this year, Cullison replied, "I don't know ... you know what the cost of everything has gone up too so for the morale issue, I would like to keep some (money) in (for raises). But again it just depends on how lean we can cut and how much people (department heads and officeholders) can cut out."
Cullison said some neighboring counties may do away with or cut longevity pay for employees in order to get under budget, but he said that part of the budget is generally "off the table" in Greene County.
The budget hearings are somewhat different this year with requirements to look over and sign off on the budgets from the five county school districts as well as the city budgets from Linton and Jasonville.
Cullison said the county has no "discretion" over how that money is spent, but is charged under the legislation enacted in HB 1001 to review those budgets before they are approved.
He said the review process will center on comparing the 2008 budget with what is requested for next year and see if the percentage stays under 4 percent.
If the budgets increase more than 4 percent, Cullison said, "That is when we (the county council) has to look at it and say that is over the norm and say you might want to re-consider this (budget)."
Cullison said he expects the review process to be amended in the next legislative session to give the county councils "more teeth" in controlling the budgets of the schools and cities.
"They will put teeth into it where the county council will have the authority to dictate the budgets. The word is they are going to put some teeth into what they can do rather than just signing off on it," Cullison said.
The council president said he expects even more local budget woes caused by House Bill 1001 next year when the 2010 budget is being reviewed.
"It (HB 1001) really doesn't affect us a whole lot this year. Next year, I look for it to really put a whammy on us," Cullison said in referring to decreased state funding for the county. "I think we are probably looking at another $100,000 to $200,000 in funding is what we'll probably see."
He continued, "With your increased health care costs, your fuel costs and the big monstrosity there -- the courthouse -- how are we going to pay for that? Talk about a lot of unanswered questions, there's just tons of them out there."
Cullison pointed out that another major part of HB 1001 has been the elimination of township assessors and shifted that workload to the county assessor, who will need additional staffing to complete those new duties.
"The big question mark is how is she (assessor Nancy Schnellenger) going to handle it. The commissioners have table the contract for the contacted part (of the reassessment and trending). The work has to be done. The state (Department of Local Government Finance) has a timetable on it," he pointed out. "I don't think they (the commissioners) have really checked into the total reassessment costs for Greene County, because if they had they would have thought that ($635,600 bid by Tyler Technologies) was a pretty good deal I think. The reason they (the commissioners) only had one company bid is was there are not too many companies that do it."
The hearing format has most county offices allotted about 15 minutes to make their formal presentations. Some of the larger budgets have been allowed 30 to 60 minutes.
The commissioners and the prosecutor, which are responsible for multiple budgets, have been allowed 75 minutes each.
The following schedule will be followed:
Tuesday, Sept. 2
9-9:15 a.m. -- Public hearing
9:05-9:20 a.m. -- Public Defender
9:20-9:45 a.m. -- Courthouse/Maintenance
9:45-10 a.m. -- Veteran's Affairs Office
10-10:45 a.m. -- Assessor, reassessment, townships
10:45-11 a.m. -- Stockton Township Assessor
11:15-11:30 a.m. -- Weights and Measure
11:30 a.m. -1 p.m. -- Lunch
1-2:15 p.m. -- Commissioners, Highway, Cumulative Bridge, Local Road and Streets, Building Fund, Cumulative Capital Development, County Manager
2:15-2:30 p.m. -- Economic Development
2:30-2:45 p.m. -- Coroner
2:45-3 p.m. -- Surveyor, Drainage Board, General Drain Improvement
3-3:15 p.m. -- Ambulance Service
3:15-3:30 p.m. -- Probation -- Juvenile Probation, Adult Probation, Administrative fees
Wednesday, Sept. 3
9-9:30 a.m. -- Circuit Court, CASA
9:30-10 a.m. -- Superior Court, Adult Probation, Drug and Alcohol
10-10:15 a.m. -- Cooperative Extension
10:15-11:15 a.m. -- Sheriff, Jail, E-911, Sheriff Community Correction
11:15-11:30 a.m. -- Recorder
11:30 p.m. -1 p.m. -- Lunch
1-2:15 p.m. -- Prosecutor, Title 4-D Child Support, 4-D Incentive, Check Deception, Drug Task Force, Infraction Deferral, Pre-Trial Diversion, Victim Assistance
2:15-2:45 p.m. -- Health, Health Maintenance
2:45-3 p.m. -- Clerk, Election, Voter Registration
3-3:30 p.m. -- Security
Thursday, Sept. 4
9-9:15 p.m. -- Soil and Water Conservation
9:15-9:30 p.m. -- Auditor
9:30-9:45 p.m. -- Computer/Data
9:45-10 a.m. -- County Council
10-10:30 a.m. -- Emergency Management
10:30-11:30 a.m. -- Additional Cuts as needed
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. -- Lunch
1 p.m. -- Recall any officeholders, if needed