3/18/2010

By DAVID CLOUSTON Salina Journal

A projected drop in revenue of more than a million dollars in the 2010 Saline County budget has County Administrator Rita Deister warning department heads to prepare for cuts in their 2011 budgets.

Those cuts could be about 7.5 percent in the county’s general operations fund and for large departments, such as the sheriff’s office. Deister briefed the department heads at a meeting Wednesday. County Commissioner John Reynolds also was at the meeting.

“Keep in mind these are all very preliminary numbers,” Deister said.

The road and bridge department, funded by state and county funds, for 2011 is facing a 3.2 percent reduction in its $6 million-plus budget. Deister gave the department heads a list of budget targets for 2011 showing how much less money each department would receive, with cuts ranging from 2 to 7.5 percent.

The proposed cuts means services to rural residents that are already stretched thin are potentially going to be further affected after the budget is passed by the county commission in August.

“It’s already taking us 10 to 15 minutes to respond to calls,” Sheriff Glen Kochanowski said after the meeting. He asked “What do I tell people?” if response times take even longer because there are fewer deputies patrolling at any given time.

Based on a comparison of 2009 and 2010 revenue numbers, Deister said she expects a revenue decline of about 7.3 percent for 2011. That number goes higher if it’s compared to what the county actually budgeted for revenue for 2010 — pushing the decline to about 8.31 percent.

That would bring in about $1.025 million less than what’s budgeted, she said. A mill in the 2010 budget raises $524,298. The county thus would need to increase the property tax levy about 1.9 mills for 2011 to merely match this year’s budget.

More revenue

To accommodate step increases on the county’s salary schedule and the cost of health insurance and other benefits, the county will need to generate an additional $397,757, Deister said.

The cuts — “will make up for about $1 million, but we still have to worry about where we’re going to come up with the money for salaries and unexpected things, new vehicles and so forth,” she said.

“A lot of you don’t even have a single line item that amounts for what your cut is,” Deister said. In many cases, the cuts will have to come from several line items.

“Since I’ve been here I think there are a lot of departments that have not gotten any general increase except in their salaries,” Deister said. “It’s going to be a struggle, but I think we can do it if we work together.”

‘Unrealistic’ numbers

Together, the proposed cuts for the sheriff’s office, jail and the county’s juvenile center — all operated by the sheriff — total $455,301. Kochanowski called those numbers “unrealistic.”

“The only thing I can see that would come even near that would be reducing personnel,” he said. “Do I cut the safety of my officers in the jail or the juvenile center (by cutting personnel in those facilities)? I’m mandated by law to have so many people in those areas. Or do I cut the number of people patrolling the road” and tell deputies they’ll be working shifts without a fellow officer to back them up?

Kochanowski said he’s invited retired or current certified public accounts to examine his budget to make suggestions on where to trim. The budget will have to be in to county by the middle or the end of June. Given the proposed cuts, Kochanowski said he’s concerned not knowing what’s going to happen to gasoline or food costs, for instance.

“Last year, we came in $150,000 in the black. But we had no major problems in the jail and no major medical problems,” he said.

Using hybrid vehicles?

He’s also concerned about replacing department vehicles. No vehicles were placed in 2010.

“When I came here we were placing seven to 10 vehicles at a time, now we’re down to two or three,” Kochanowski said. “But I’m afraid our maintenance issues are going to build up and that’s going to go up again.”

He said the department is looking at replacing some of its vehicles with gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles for in-town use.

“But there has to be a way to finance them,” he said.

n Reporter David Clouston can be reached at 822-1403 or by e-mail at [email protected].