2014 preliminary county budget: Departments $1.3 million in red

Whitman County elected officials and department managers received some unwelcome news about the 2014 budget Tuesday morning.

Administrative director Gary Petrovich told commissioners during a budget discussion that the projected budget deficit is estimated at a little more than $1.3 million, a sum which equals one tenth of the 2013 budget.

The projected deficit is the difference between the county’s projected revenue and the proposed budgets of county departments.

Petrovich said the deficit results from decreased revenue and increased expenses.

“We’re looking at a significant deficit here,” he said.

Petrovich supplied the commissioners, elected officials and some department heads with a chart showing the proposed budgets for 23 departments.

The top four listed are the sheriff’s department with a proposed budget of $3,469,530, an increase of almost $200,000 over this year; general government, $1,622,852, an increase of $384,230; public health, $1,095,690, a decrease of $71,534; and internet technology, $1,086,987, an increase of $169,751.

All the other departments also had increased budget proposals, which have been discussed with each department at previous meetings.

“We need to look at the significant budget issues and we need to be in the process of convincing departments to trim budgets,” Petrovich said. Then he asked commissioners how they wanted to proceed.

“How about going home?” Commission Chair Michael Largent asked.

“I don’t have a particular insight at this juncture about how to close the gap, but clearly we must,” Largent said.

“As you look at these numbers, this is going to have a significant impact on county services,” he said. “We have the very difficult task of figuring out how to do that.

“We can’t go under the assumption that we’ll be saved by additional revenue,” Largent continued. “The revenue change is now the norm and we’ll have to adjust our budget for the norm.

“I think the elected officials have done a good job in articulating their needs. We have a clear sense of their needs.

“I don’t think across the board cuts are the answer. I do think there will be some type of reduction of services,” Largent said.

“I think we will have to divide the deficit in some fashion.

“Law and justice and public health are difficult to contemplate reductions,” he said. “Clearly we can’t afford what we’re doing. The department heads and elected officials must reduce budgets in their departments and it will not be easy. We and they will make some difficult decisions. We’ll have to look at each department and make reductions.

“It’s a jaw-dropping number,” Largent said.

“We have to limit our expenses to match our revenue,” Commissioner Art Swannack said. “We have to figure out how to rein it in and there will be damage.”

After listening to the other two commissioners, Commissioner Dean Kinzer shared his thoughts.

“The county is seeing what I’ve been seeing in my own operation for the last 10 to 15 years,” Kinzer, who farms near Pullman, said. “I know what my priorities are and that’s what we’re going to have to do. We’re going to have to make some cuts.”

Sheriff Brett Myers said the commissioners have heard the requests.

“I can’t say enough about our officers,” he said. “Our department should be a priority in government. I’m confident we’ll have a balanced budget, but we should look at all departments and our priorities.”

Prosecutor Denis Tracy said he echoed the sheriff’s comments.

“In 2008, we did get together and it was not received well by the board of commissioners at that time,” he said. “Absolute priorities have to be set and as we do that, I look forward to working with you. I am an advocate of public safety as a number one priority.”

“I don’t think past boards have done a good job, but it encourages me to how this board is taking on the task,” Largent said. “It’s simply a matter of mathematics. Our revenue is limited by law and our expenses are not. The state legislature is passing on costs without appropriate funding. The legislature isn’t keeping their house in order and it’s affecting the counties.”

Largent referred to the one percent property tax limit imposed by voters several years ago and the unfunded mandates passed on to counties without funding for the mandates.

“We need to openly show what’s going on with people’s money,” Swannack said.

“That’s why it’s imperative to have a long-range strategy plan in place,” Petrovich said to the commissioners.

The commissioners discussed adding taxes such as a criminal justice tax, but none of them knows how the public would react, although they believe that no one wants to pay additional taxes.

“I’m not suggesting the board raise taxes, but I am suggesting the board ask the public,” Myers said. “We need to find a short term and long term solution.”

“We don’t have the highest pay or the highest benefits,” Myers continued. “We have to take a look at why our revenue hasn’t gone up. We need to encourage more business. Whitman County is set to grow.

“We can’t keep on with no increase in revenue and increase in expenses because what will be left is the board running the county.

“The board could draw the line and make sure public safety is the priority and communities have the service they need,” he said.

“We have to eliminate internal extra things because that’s what’s costing money,” Petrovich said.

Kinzer compared the county’s finances to his own personal budget and how less revenue is gutting the county’s small towns.

“I went without health insurance for 33 years because I had other priorities,” he said, such as putting his children through college and putting food on the table.

Swannack said he believes people will let commissioners know when they’ve reached a limit on the county’s declining services.

“At a certain point, the citizens will say, ‘Yeah, we need these services,’” he said.

The commissioners will schedule more meetings with departments to discuss the budget.

The county budget must be finalized by the end of this year.