County’s budget clock ticking down to deadline

A public hearing on Whitman County’s 2011 budget will be next Monday. County commissioners, though, are unsure what they will present to the public because they have yet to receive a complete draft on next year’s spending plan from Auditor Eunice Coker.

“Well, I guess we’ll listen to what the public has to say, that’s what a public hearing is all about,” said Commissioner Greg Partch. “But I’m not sure what they will say with nothing to look at.”

Auditor Coker took over budget preparation after commissioners dissolved the county’s finance department in June. She cited state law that puts the authority of budget preparation under the auditor.

In the past, the budget process has started in early fall and commissioners negotiated with department heads over their final numbers.

Commissioners say they have not been able to do that this year because Coker is still finalizing the numbers with some departments.

Commissioner Pat O’Neill said he is worried the delayed submittal will not leave them adequate time to target potential spending cuts.

“I can tell you what we’ll do if we don’t have a budget by Dec. 31, we’ll have to shut ‘er down,” said O’Neill. “You can’t operate if you don’t have a budget.”

Tense negotiations between commissioners and Sheriff Brett Myers last year dragged on for almost a month.

Commissioner Greg Partch is also worried about running out of time.

“When she finally gets it to us, we’ve got to sit down and digest it first,” he said. “Then we have to speed through these negotiations.”

Coker said those negotiations should have begun long ago.

According to Partch, Coker’s preliminary submittals have left open questions about spending in various departments. Without solid information, he said, commissioners have no starting point for final negotiations.

“What she gave us was not exactly helpful yet,” he said.

Coker contends commissioners can begin negotiations with the information they currently have.

“They’ve got the sheets for the individual departments, and they’ve got the whole,” she said. “So they’re able to get with the department heads they feel they need to get to. They’re wasting time if they think they’re waiting on me.”

She sent out a draft last week that is $131,629 in the red. She added only a few accounts are lacking information, and those reconciliations will have little impact on the bottom line.

“These are really simple things to fix and correct,” said Coker.

Commissioner Michael Largent, though, said small amounts can have a significant impact in budget negotiations.

“If you were $133,000 out, you would have different conversations than if you were $800,000 out,” said Largent. “How you approach those negotiations really depends on the bottom line.”

The commissioners’ weekly agenda had day-long budget review sessions slated for each day this week. Partch said they set those dates so they can begin that review whenever the budget is finalized.

“It’s all tentative so we can meet the requirements of the open public meetings act,” said Partch.