The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by David Grimes-Quill Correspondent
OQUAWKA- Despite efforts by the Henderson County Board to cut fat, the county will realize a 2003-04 budget that is more than $100,000 dollars in the red.
Describing the tentative budget as "very, very lean," accountant Norm Underwood from the Galesburg, Ill., firm Blucker Kneer and Associates, the firm that conducts the county's audit, told the board to expect one more year of decreases.
Two funds that caused the biggest part of the deficiency are the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund and Liability.
Employee retirement funding increased from $290,000 in 2002-03 to $315,000 in 2003-04 while liability insurance rose from $250,000 last year to $275,000 for 2003-04.
Noting that the county has no control over the amount of money needed to cover liability costs, Underwood said, "increases are all you're going to find in liability insurance."
In seeking remedies to cover the increased costs in the two areas, Underwood recommended that the board bear in mind the limits of what can be expected from assessed valuation in the county.
Other sources of income have been stretched to capacity, too.
"You're at the limit on what you can expect in state money on shared revenues and at the limit on county fees," Underwood said.
County board member Gail Russell said later that when the amount of cuts as far as what the county could expect to receive from the state of Illinois next fiscal year was released last month, the county was looking at a budget that would have been a quarter of a million dollars in the red.
The board's finance committee asked each county department to reduce its number of hours by 10 percent.
"We thought it would be better to reduce hours rather than to ask them to cut staff. That way, nobody had to lose their jobs," Russell said.
"There was 85 percent participation by county offices in the budget process," he said.
All but two departments complied, Russell said, but declined to say which departments those were.
As a result of the cutback in office hours, the budget was improved to about a $107,000 deficit for next year.
Board Chairman Marion Brown expressed thanks to county officials for the departmental cuts that have been made, and said members of the board's finance committee had decided not to accept per diem allotments next year.
He said if other board members chose to do the same, their efforts, too, would be appreciated.
"But that's entirely up to each individual," he said.
Economic Development Committee Chairman Tom Doran said there was more funding to be realized in the area of zoning and urged the board to consider making the zoning officer position full-time.
"Increased collection of zoning fees would more than pay for the position as well as generate additional revenue for the county," he said.
The board later voted to place the budget on file, with Finance Committee Chairman Gail Russell and Doran voting against it. Approval of the document will be voted on at the board's second monthly meeting Nov. 26.
Underwood said he did not have an answer as to how the county should proceed in resolving the issue, adding that the situation was not a result of a lack of diligence on the part of county officials.
"Everybody pretty much kept with last year's reductions and cuts," he said. "This is a budget that contains no wants, only needs."