County government has hit financial rough patch
Employees who are paid out of the
The average hourly wage of those employees is
Personnel in the office of County Clerk
Some of the county's 218 employees are unhappy, although none contacted by The Gleaner were willing to have their name used for fear of retribution.
"Some of us struggle financially, something (
"They were awful happy coming out of the courtroom after
Those good spirits probably could be attributable to relief. Interviews with
Judge-executive
The second week of July things began to go amiss, Puttman said. "The cash flow became an issue when Hugh was off and I was filling in," he said. "I was in a panic. I'm not a numbers guy. There was a whole lot going on."
For several years the county has been dealing with severe cuts in coal severance tax and gas tax revenues More recently, it has seen an upsurge in health coverage, retirement benefits and operational costs
Coupled with that was the usual lean times of June and early July, when relatively little revenue comes into county government, and the usual mid-year insurance premiums that had to be paid.
There were more demands than there was money to pay the bills. The situation became so critical that the only way the county could meet its mid-July payroll was by dipping into its reserves and cashing a
But that was just a thumb in the dike; more needed to be done.
A New Tool
The financial software that Treasurer
He brought in his assistant,
Gold said he was "pretty proud" of Evans' work, and hopes the tool will be used in future budget preparations. But he made it clear "all we did was put spreadsheets together that showed the county financial picture and make it possible for people to run their own scenarios. We were not involved in the formulation of policy."
"They looked at our numbers a different way," said McCormick. "They were showing the numbers were worse than we had anticipated. They looked at where we've been spending more than we had coming in over the years."
Overspending
Not counting payroll costs, the county spent
But in nearly half of the line items in the General Fund the county had overspent its budget. Most of those expenses are not paid by the state.
"The thing that amazed me was the amount of things we were over budget on last year," said Magistrate
McCormick said the county has altered the way it does business so cash flows more smoothly. "We've changed ... the way we're doing these things all the way across the board," he said. Where possible, payments will be made quarterly or monthly instead of annually or semi-annually.
After the recession hit in 2008, the county froze its property tax rate for eight years, which he said was probably a mistake. When the loss of coal severance tax revenue became apparent the court should have taken the modest increase allowed by law.
"I'm trying to keep from spending the way it's been spent before," he said.
Squires Speak
Some of the magistrates made similar comments.
"We need to keep doing what we've been doing: Back off working on the parks, overtime, make sure we need what we're purchasing," said Magistrate
"They overspent last year on the blacktop and we're a little bit heavy (in manpower) at the
Magistrate
Magistrate
The Future?
Most court members, however, expressed confidence that county government is back on the right track to financial health.
Alexander said the county will need to take a hard look at continuing to fund the recycling center and "it's not a secret we're looking at doing something about the ambulance service." The county currently has budgeted
But much of the cost cutting can be done through attrition, Alexander said. "The hiring freeze is going to be the crux of it."
"Hopefully it will work itself out in a couple of months and we'll get everybody back to work," said Puttman.
"I think we can work through this," said Warren.
"We're just trying to keep ahead of the game," said Todd. "I think we'll be all right."
"Everything's going to be OK," said Wilkerson. "We've got everything under control."
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