BENTON COUNTY -- At least one justice of the peace already is concerned about county spending before the budget process has started.
Susan Anglin of District 9 raised concerns about spending at last week's Committee of the Whole meeting when the justices of the peace were recommending a number of requests for new personnel and wage and salary adjustments. Anglin said those requests, coupled with the potential cost for rural ambulance service and capital projects, need to be considered as part of the bigger budget picture where the Quorum Court likely will see even more requests.
"That's what's giving me heartburn," Anglin said.
Anglin said she raised the issue because she thinks the Quorum Court needs to deal with county spending as a whole rather than according to individual issues.
"I'm kind of curious that no one else has talked a whole lot about it," she said. "My concerns are that we've got some very costly items coming up. There's the personnel, EMS, the courts building and War Eagle [bridge]. Then Barb Ludwig (human resources manager) mentioned there may be concerns with the health fund. Those are all high-dollar issues."
The personnel requests being considered will require an additional $98,017 from the general fund for the rest of 2015 and carry a price tag of $255,104 for 2016, according to information from Brenda Guenther, comptroller. A request from the treasurer's office will require $6,531 for 2016.
Providing ambulance service for the southeastern corner of the county by contracting with Mercy Health, as the justices of the peace have recommended, carries a first-year cost of about $1.2 million, including an ambulance and other capital costs and equipment, and ongoing annual expenses beginning at an estimated $712,984 in the second year of operation.
Anglin said she understands the county is expecting more money from both sales tax and property tax than was budgeted, but she isn't ready to spend that anticipated revenue.
Anglin said she's even more concerned about the added expenses after last year's budget process, when the county's elected officials and department heads were asked by the Quorum Court to cut their budget requests.
"Everyone was told to cut and we had reason for that," Anglin said.
Kurt Moore of District 13 said he's watching the costs and has limits. He said the county has operated for years with personnel costs at or below 70 percent of the net revenue, which he says should continue to be the limit.
"We are either at or slightly above that right now," Moore said. "If new personnel requests next fall would push us over, I would be very strongly against that."
The costs of the ambulance service were surprising, but the county is committed to making the service available, Moore said.
"I don't think there's going to be a cheap solution to this," he said. "All of the numbers for providing service to the southeast were three or four times what we were spending for this. Instead of us spending $1.1 million or $1.2 million it's going to be $1.5 million or $1.6 million, which means the revenue we have coming in from the millage and the voluntary tax is only going to cover about two-thirds of our cost."
Moore thinks the Quorum Court should begin work on the 2016 budget with a flat budget as an initial target.
"Hopefully we won't have to do any cutting," he said.
Barry Moehring of District 15 said he sees Anglin's points and doesn't disagree with them, but he would distinguish between mid-year requests and the annual budget process.
"I think Susan's position is valid and well founded," Moehring said. "We have to balance these requests against other expenses we have coming up. We know we're going to have War Eagle [bridge]. We know we're going to have the courts building. We know we're going to have EMS. At the same time, we did ask the elected officials last year to pare down their budgets pretty substantially. I think these mid-year requests were sufficiently vetted."
Moehring would like to see elected officials and department heads begin the budget process with an understanding they may not have all their requests approved and may have to make cuts. He also said the county can't consider any request more favorably just because another request was approved.
"We've got to be pragmatic," he said.
The Budget Process
Benton County's formal budget process begins Aug. 10, when elected officials and department heads receive instructions and forms for the 2016 budget, including travel, operating and capital request forms. Personnel requests will be submitted to Barb Ludwig, human resources manager, by Aug. 24. Brenda Guenther, comptroller, will work with the elected officials and department heads to prepare budget requests for the county's Finance Committee, meeting as the Budget Committee, to review beginning in October. The final budget will be approved in December.
Source: Staff report
General News on 07/22/2015