Published: September 04, 2008 01:33 pm         

County gives preliminary nod to budget

2009 total is roughly $440,000 less than last year

When the Cass County Council began planning for this year’s budget process, council members asked county department heads to cut 5 percent from their 2008 operating budgets.

The council believed that those cuts would help the county offer a 2 percent raise for county employees while still offsetting an expected $900,000 shortfall in 2009.

Even with that recommendation, council members weren’t expecting the level of cooperation they received from the county department heads.

“I’ve been very pleased from the beginning of the process,” Council President Ralph Anderson said after the county’s budget hearings Wednesday. “They pretty much cut everything we needed to cut. There was almost nothing to cut.”

At the start of the process, county department heads submitted budgets totaling more than $35.6 million, which was $74,252 less than last year. The council cut an additional $364,581 out of the operating budget and passed the first reading of the 2009 budget at about $35.2 million — roughly $440,000 less than last year.

That figure included the anticipated 2 percent increase in the salaries of full-time employees and the per-hour rate for most part-time employees. In several cases, positions that had been passed over for an increase in 2008 were bumped up to make up the difference.

The budget must still pass a second reading at the council’s Sept. 19 meeting before it is approved.

Anderson said he was happy with the overall reduction and felt taxpayers would likely also be pleased.

“There’s always going to be government services that any one individual may not like and therefore think they shouldn’t pay for,” said Anderson. “But collectively, when the dollars are all added up, this budget is going to be less than last year.”

Anderson said walking into Wednesday’s hearings with a nearly balanced budget made the budget process much easier.

A large portion of this year’s budget reduction came as a result of the county’s decision to close the Cass County Home, which had a $221,673 budget for 2008. The cumulative bridge fund was also cut, a move that left several council members voicing concern because of the trend in cuts to the fund over the past several years.

Those and other cuts helped to offset increases in other areas, including the addition of an imaging specialist who will scan all of the county’s records to reduce paper storage in the county building. That addition, which totals $19,140, was included in the commissioners’ budget.

However, Anderson commended the commissioners on cutting nearly $43,000 from last year’s budget despite the addition.

Regarding the sizable increase to the E911 budget, necessitated by the upcoming move to combine city and county dispatch services, Anderson again voiced concern.

Some officials involved in the process to establish the dispatch center have previously said estimating a 2009 budget with no prior operating budget to go by might be difficult. A budget of more than $1.1 million was proposed — $431,721 more than the county spent for E911 services in 2008 — and the council largely left the proposal untouched.

Other council members, including Chod Gibson and Brent Kelley, have previously noted the importance of properly funding the department to get it established. Many officials throughout the process have also noted that this plan is drawing attention from around the region, and Cass County is hoping to one day use it as a regional dispatch center providing service to surrounding counties.

Anderson said the council would have to wait and see how the center’s first year played out. He added that the department, including staff positions, might eventually need to be trimmed.

“I’m concerned about the combined E911 because in starting out, it’s costing us more than each of them did individually,” Anderson said. “... The E911 is a great idea, and I’ve been on board from the start, but I’m worried about it.”

Carla Knapp can be contacted at (574) 732-5150 or via e-mail at carla.knapp@pharostribune.com