Surplus in 2012 could fill county's 2013 gap

County left with $200k shortfall

in next year’s spending plan.

Whitman County commissioners still are studying how to deal with the projected $200,000 shortfall in next year’s budget. The final public hearing on the 2013 budget will be Monday, Dec. 17, at 10:30 a.m.

“I don’t anticipate any changes from last week,” Financial Specialist David Ledbetter, Jr., said Monday morning at the commissioners’ meeting. Commissioners are scheduled to approve the budget Dec. 31.

“The board needs to contemplate how to proceed,” said Gary Petrovich, Administrative Director. “If you want to take $200,000 out of the cash reserves, it needs to be done fairly soon so David and I can continue working on the budget.”

The county’s cash reserves total $1.19 million, plus $2.9 million in cash on hand.

Total general budget for Whitman County is $13.08 million, a decrease from last year’s $14.24 million which included a number of big-ticket capital improvement projects, Ledbetter said.

Petrovich previously told the board that this year’s revenues were ahead of the predicted $11.35 million, while expenditures of $10.32 million were behind expectations. Revenues of about $12.65 million will exceed projected spending by about $200,000 and could be used to balance the budget shortfall.

“I’m okay with the budget,” said Commissioner Michael Largent.

Petrovich also said earlier that he and Ledbetter have worked with department heads to cut six figures from expenditures. That includes $105,000 cut from the sheriff’s office budget request, the cost of filling a road deputy position that now will not be filled.

Next year’s budget also includes two percent raises in the salaries of non-union employees that will cost $70,000. Petrovich has said he expects that a raise may be negotiated with unions next year.

Elected officials were given eight to 10 percent raises by the citizen salary commission last spring, costing the county $46,560 in added payroll expenses.

“The department heads and elected officials deserve all the credit for working on the budget,” Petrovich said.

Monday’s hearing will be in the commissioners’ meeting room on the first floor of the courthouse. The budget must be adopted by the end of the year.