Judy A. Maxwell
The Eatonton Messenger
The Putnam County Board of Commissioners will mull over severe spending cuts when it holds the first of two public hearings Friday on the proposed $15.8 million budget.
The county’s spending plan for fiscal 2011 is “as Draconian as it can be” while managing to keep the lid on property tax rates, said County Manager Paul Van Haute.
The BOC will consider keeping the mill rate at 5.4, according to a budget summary prepared by County Finance Director Linda Cook.
“With the reduction of the (tax) digest and shrinking revenues, all avenues were explored in order to balance General Fund expenditures with revenues,” writes Cook in a memo to the BOC. “There is some funding from the fund balance that was needed in order to present a balanced budget.”
Last year, the entire budget was a nine-month plan as the BOC had revised the county’s fiscal year to be in line with tax digest reports and subsequent millage rate decisions. Annualized, the current budget would have totaled $17.1 million, said Van Haute. The newly proposed budget has been cut to the spending levels of five or six years ago, he said.
Representatives of county departments as well as social service agencies that receive county funding made their financing pitches to the BOC during three separate public budget hearings in August. The requests total more than $18.4 million.
Nearly every department will face a proposed reduction in funding or at the least receive no increase at all.
For example, the county sheriff’s office has a proposed budget of $2.5 million or $209,000 a month for 2011. Sheriff Howard Sills requested nearly $2.6 million in county revenue. Last year, the office received an annualized amount of $2.5 million or $209,000 a month.
In another example, the county ambulance service received an annualized amount of $1.7 million or $139,000 a month for 2010. For 2011, the office asked the BOC for nearly the same amount, but will face a proposed $1.48 million or $123,000 a month.
Public safety includes sheriff’s office operations and ambulance services as well as fire station support, jail operations and the county coroner’s department. Overall, the 2011 public safety budget is a proposed $6.3 million, an estimated $630,000 less than what its new funding requests totaled. Last year, public safety received an annualized $6.7 million.
Meanwhile, public works will see a proposed cut of $367,000 in fiscal 2011 as compared to an annualized $2.7 million in 2010. The department had asked for $2.8 million and will receive a proposed $2.35 million. Public works takes care of such things as highways and streets maintenance, solid waste and recyclables.
In a small, but telling statistic, the county will not even be able to afford to bury its poor. The indigent burial fund was an annualized $800 for 2010, and as of Aug. 12, the cost had already reached $1,200. The county has budgeted zero funding for the service for fiscal 2011.
General fund
The general fund is the administration’s operating budget, used to support public services and payroll. The fund balance is a reserve account of sorts.
The county anticipates receiving $11.7 million in tax revenue in 2011, and it plans to shift $1.5 million from the reserve fund into operations. An estimated $7.6 million in property tax revenue is expected. And $2.4 million will be raised through county service fees, fines and grants.
In balancing the newly proposed budget, Cook said the administration reduced payroll costs by 12 percent or $1.34 million. Last year’s personnel fund totaled $11.2 million; this year’s proposed amount is $9.9 million. Part of the reduction, noted Cook, was attributed to savings in health insurance rates and the reorganization of the senior center. “By working with the departments, some positions were eliminated, some of which were vacant, and some full-time positions were reduced to part-time positions,” wrote Cook.
In July, the BOC approved outsourcing the daily meal preparation at the senior center, which would save the county $125,000, according to Van Haute. With the change, some workers were laid off and others saw their hours cut. Cutbacks also occurred in the planning and development department as director Sharyn Darlington resigned and some building inspector positions were eliminated. Last year, the BOC approved adding to the department’s budget to keep inspectors’ jobs intact.
The administration also proposes an 18 percent cut in the 2011 general fund. Most of the $1.3 million in cuts were in grants requested by various public-service agencies that seek some financial support through county tax revenues. The amount of grant money withheld totals $854,000, according to the budget memo. The administration has also denied $385,000 in capital requests, bringing a total of $1.2 million in capital and grant denials, which made up 93 percent of the overall reduction in the general fund.
The operating budget proposed for 2011 totals $5.9 million. Last year, it totaled $7.2 million.
In her memo, Cook says: “We believe that this proposed budget provides for basic funding for operation of the county government with our financial resources.”
The BOC will meet at 9 a.m. Friday in the west courtroom of the Putnam County Courthouse. The BOC is expected to adopt the budget at its Sept. 21 meeting, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in the courthouse.
