Budget outlook murky

After an hour of animated discussion Tuesday, the Glenn County Board of Supervisors set public hearings on the final 2008-2009 budget for Oct. 28.

Board members expressed frustration at trying to maintain services and approve a state-mandated balanced budget when revenues are not keeping pace with costs.

Board Chairman Mike Murray said the county already is “playing a shell game, and the budget is on life support.”

“We have to decide whether to pull the plug or not,” he said. “We may have to do it in two weeks, a month.”

A proposed balanced county budget will go before the board Tuesday for review but no final action will be taken until after the hearings at the end of October.

Finance Director Don Santoro requested board direction on the budget and will move ahead with the hearing schedule.

However, the spector of employee layoffs still looms since the county only has control of about $20 million of its $80 million budget, officials said.

What departments and positions might be affected has yet to be determined, but supervisors said they feared next year’s budget fight will get even uglier than this year’s battle – so it might be necessary to cut more now rather than later.

Supervisors Keith Hansen and Tom McGowan also talked about allocating an additional $200,000 for the county’s contingency fund, which could mean eliminating enough staff positions to create that savings.

County department heads will be asked to determine where they can cut, but Santoro cautioned many employees already are doing double duties to create cost savings.

Murray said he is an employee advocate and hates having to eliminate jobs, but the county may not have any choice. He urged Santoro and the department heads to “play hardball” with the board and let members know if any cuts are too deep.

Santoro also asked the board to consider what employee cuts mean to county citizens since the county’s mission has been “to give the highest level of service we can year after year.”

Board members said they would leave it up to department heads to decide where to make changes whether it is a reduction in work hours or positions.

Regardless, Chief Administrative Officer David Shoemaker said departments funded by the county’s general fund will lose some workers if the savings goal is to be achieved.

McGowan suggested the county try to avoid eliminating positions that generate revenues.

Shoemaker added some county revenues have actually increased this year – particularly the tax base, but it has not gone up at the level seen in the past. And a reduction in fine payments and loss in home sales have contributed to shortfalls in some budgets, he said.

Board members like McGowan also asked Shoemaker and staff to look at selling surplus county properties like some old gravel pits since there is money in gravel.  However, no marketing actions were taken during Tuesday’s special board meeting.

The county also is looking at having at least two and possibly three new supervisors next year since McGowan and Hansen did not run for re-election and Supervisor John Amaro lost his June re-election bid to Steven Soeth. This will leave Murray and Supervisor Tracey Quarne as the board veterans in January. Quarne did not attend Tuesday’s meeting.

Hansen expressed concern the new supervisors might not have the experience to deal with the state and federal governments and could find themselves falling for big government bullying which would be a good reason for the current board to act now.

Shoemaker said the county has 60 days after the governor signs the state budget to pass its own budget and that will be in November.