Cuts Hit County Budget Hard

DAYTON - Columbia County's 2012 budget is slightly higher than in 2011, but because of state funding cuts, a few integral departments will be losing a substantial amount of money from the previous year.

"We're trying to maintain our level of service, even though we're in (a tough) economic situation," Auditor Sharon Richter said.

The 2012 budget, passed Dec. 28 by the county commissioners, has an amount of $3,587,498. This increased just slightly from the 2011 county budget that had an amount of $3,516,682.

There will not be any layoffs at the county in 2012, but its employees will not receive cost of living increases or increases in their benefits, Richter said.

Also, the Sheriff's Office will not be filling one position to save money in its budget.

The various budgets in the county, which include funding for fair, mental health, crime victim's assistance, affordable housing, senior citizen's center, public health and drug enforcement, was greatly reduced for 2012 by about $644,000.

"State funding cuts reduced a lot of these," Richter said.

A significant loss was from local government assistance funding that went from $630,000 to $400,000.

" We're cutting costs across the board," Richter said.

The fund for meth cleanup dropped $10,000 in 2012 from 2011, the E-911 fund lost $5,000. The Treasurer's Technology Fee was reduced by about $74,700. Crime victim's assistance was reduced by $2,000 and the equine fund was reduced from $3,000 to $73. Mental health was reduced by about $72,000. The money the sheriff's office received for the drug task force was eliminated, about $44,000.

A few funds will see budget increases, including drug enforcement, unemployment, affordable housing, domestic violence and the weed board.

Not included in various budgets, the public works department's budget also saw an increase for 2012 because of expected incoming grant money for projects, Richter said. Solid waste had more beginning cash and will also see an increase.

Also not included in various budgets is parks and recreation, which will be reduced from $213,000 to $198,000 in 2012, Richter said .

Unfortunately, the county's budget is not yet concrete as legislators in Olympia are trying to figure out a state budget in special session. There may be additional cuts coming the county's way.

"We're holding firm for now," Richter said.

She said she does not know what the county will do if it cuts more money. And the county has no reserve fund for current expense in case of an emergency like that.

"We've taken everything we've earned to keep us going," Richter explained.

The county will be trying to build a reserve fund in 2012, but with a tough economic situation now and projected tough times ahead, Richter said she doesn't know how much the county will be able to save.

"(The budgets) are always tough anymore," she said. "I think next year will be even worse. We haven't hit our low yet."