County’s deficit grows despite cuts in budget

Cuts to county services may be forthcoming as Whitman County officials struggle to cover a 2009 deficit now projected at $310,812. The projected loss grew by over $57,186 from the deficit the county projected in April.

That setback came when county officials concluded a second round of spending cuts in an attempt to offset the loss of revenue.

Monday, county commissioners unanimously approved the year’s second budget amendment which included cuts but still had the $57,186 added to the projected deficit.

The amendment included a series of cuts by county departments that led to a $138,068 reduction in spending. That number, though, was not enough to offset an additional $196,254 projected drop in revenue.

Sharron Cunningham, assistant finance director, told county officials at Monday’s hearing the drop in revenue was because of falling sales tax income and interest earnings off county investments. Those sagging categories were nearly $290,000 less than what the county budgeted for this year.

Commissioner Greg Partch said the situation is far harder than the county’s 2003 budget crunch. That was brought on, he said, by a drop in revenue after voters passed initiatives 695 and 747.

Those initiatives, along with sales tax exemptions for farmers handed down from the state Legislature, left the county without a stable tax base, he added. Now, with citizens curbing their spending in the wake of the national recession, the county is left with little stable funding.

“We have no retail base. That’s why Hawkins would have been such a boom to us,” said Partch.

Earlier this year, the county cut a $500,000 deficit in half, and vowed to find cuts to cover the remaining $250,000 gap.

Commissioners credited county officials for trimming their budgets further, but noted the last round of cuts leaves the county with no spare fat in the budget.

“What comes next means this is going to be very hard,” said County Commissioner Michael Largent. “We’ve cut about as far as we can go.”

“We’ve picked off all the low-hanging fruit and got clear up to the middle of the tree. Now we’re at the point where we’re left with this,” Partch commented.

To balance the budget without tapping county reserves likely means layoffs for county employees or closed offices for portions of the day or week.

As of July, the county has $2.2 million in reserves. An additional $1.1 million is stored in an emergency reserve account that can only be tapped at commissioners’ discretion. Totaled, the two accounts are a $76,000 increase over the July 2008 reserve of $3,280,622. The commissioners’ special reserve fund was enacted earlier this year.

Still, taking more than $300,000 from that fund is not a tool the county wants to use, said Commissioner Pat O’Neill.

“We’re going to have to dip into our reserves at some point,” he said. “But we can’t do that for long. What if we have another snow storm like last year? Or massive flooding?”

To avoid tapping the reserves, commissioners are reviewing every open position to determine if the county can get along without hiring a replacement.

They are also considering closing some offices for portions of the day to cut payroll.

However, Partch said such office closures would not likely take effect until next year because of union contracts. He stressed the county needs to identify its most critical services and begin looking at program cuts.

Partch said across-the-board cuts would not work, because state law requires many county departments have to have a certain level of staffing

However, he cautioned, many non-mandated programs are the most wanted by citizens.

“The most vocal meeting I can remember is in 2003, or 2004, when extension and parks were on the block,” he said. “Those programs are near and dear to people’s hearts. And they’re near and dear to my heart, too.”