County mulls future cuts as federal funds dry up

GOLD BEACH – County Commission Chairman Bill Waddle has proposed cutting the county budget by 25 percent a year for the next three years in an attempt to keep the county solvent until federal funds are gone.

County Accountant Gary Short gave commissioners a projected four-year budget this week that shows what will happen as federal funds from the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Realization Act decrease and then disappear after fiscal year 2011-12.

The county will receive $2.9 million federal money for its general fund this year, $2.6 million in fiscal year 2010-11 and $1.6 million in the third year.

“My feeling is we have to start right now,” Waddle said at Wednesday’s commissioners’ work session.

“If we don’t address it now, when it comes to that third year, you can’t use the word bankrupt, but we become dysfunctional,” Waddle said. “We need to start planning for that now.”

Waddle said that adding the three years of federal funding left will leave the county with $7.1 million of the secure rural schools money for those three years. He said if that is divided by three, spreading the total amount evenly over the three years, it would give Curry County an average of $2.35 million each year.

“We’re going to have three upcoming budgets with an average of 25 percent less (than current) each year,” he said.

“It is time to consolidate,” he said.

“I’m not in favor of 25 percent across the board cuts. We have to look at each department separately,” Waddle said.

“I’m in favor of keeping labor negotiations to a minimum. Teamsters’ contracts come up this year, after that is SEIU,” he said of the unions which represent county employees. The Teamsters Union primarily covers the sheriff’s department while SEIU Local 503 covers most of the other county unionized employees.

Waddle said he favors dropping the annual cost of living salary increases for everyone next year, although SEIU will still have the COLA in its contract for one more year.

“If they want to come forward, it’s an open invitation. I don’t want to see anyone get a COLA next year,” Waddle said.

Short said that in the fourth year, when the federal money is gone, county travel will have to be cut 50 percent.

“I think that’s a rosy picture,” Sheriff John Bishop said. “I can’t cut my travel budget unless road deputies don’t go out.”

Short said he would draw up a budget so that everything is the same each of the three years, using the 25 percent cut each year.

“I want one that goes straight across, the same for every year,” Bishop said.

“Looking at fiscal year 2012-2013, it would basically be commissioners and no staff,” Commissioner Georgia Nowlin said. “The reality is those departments can’t function.”

Waddle said the commissioners will have another work session on the budgets on Dec. 7, with department heads.