County’s prelim budget short by $500,000

The first of two public hearings to review Whitman County’s 2015 budget was Monday evening. County Prosecutor Denis Tracy and Sheriff Brett Myers were the only elected officials attending the hearing.

The only others present besides the three commissioners were Gary Petrovich, administrative director, and Cinnamon Brown, financial director.

Brown reported during the hearing that the preliminary budget is more than $58 million at this point with about $500,000 more in expenses than revenue.

This is the difference between the county’s projected revenue and the proposed budgets submitted by the county departments.

Petrovich told the commissioners that cuts from almost every department will have to be made which will bring the deficit down.

“We should have a reasonable budget by the end of the month,” Petrovich said.

Expenses now total $58,555,748 and revenue is projected at $58,039,435, with a difference of $516,313.

Last year, the county faced a $1.3 million deficit. The commissioners chose not to take all of the 2014 reductions out of the 2014 budget because the cuts would have been severe. The county still has $350,000 in reductions that must be dealt with in 2015 because one pay period was shifted from 2014 to 2015.

According to a July letter from the county commissioners to all departments, a $200,000 Operating Reserve fund is being created in 2015 and will be used solely for unanticipated expenses. A $300,000 Capital Improvement Project fund also is being created.

In the letter, commissioners said they believe that the county must start saving for major capital repairs and replacement of county facilities.

They also gave explicit instructions about reviewing the county budget. As they examine budget requests, they will look at sustainability, balanced budgets, operation, personnel costs and new personnel requests.

The letter also addressed the levy lid lift that was approved by voters last fall.

“The levy lid lift approved by the voters last year is not the solution to long term sustainability for Whitman County government. It did allow us some breathing room this year, because we didn’t have to start with more radical cuts. Beginning in 2016 we are again limited to the one percent increase each year in property tax increases. If our historic rates of increase in payroll were to continue, the lid lift would be used up within four years,” the letter states.

“The needs of the taxpayers will take priority over the needs of county departments.”

The next budget hearing is Monday at 10:30 a.m.

The top 10 departments current expense budget:

1. General Government, $3,415,510

2. Sheriff, $3,328,964

3. Public Health, $1,121,709

4. Auditor, $784,202

5. District Court, $716,876

6. Juvenile Services, $678,176

7. Facilities Management, $696,360

8. Prosecuting Attorney, $598,815

9. Treasurer, $354,068

10. Parks and Recreation, $293,880