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Public safety and health services were identified Friday as two top priorities as Douglas County looks to establish a budget blueprint for life without the federal timber safety net.
Commissioners said they would minimize cuts to the Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office and the Health Department to protect public safety during the new fiscal year that begins July 1. They spent the day meeting with department heads, both individually and in a group, to discuss the budget situation.
The county stands to lose $52 million if Congress fails to extend the safety net, which is currently operating under a one-year emergency extension. Of that, $24.7 million goes to the general fund, while $14.4 million goes into the Public Works road fund.
Without the safety net, the county could expect to receive about $3.6 million for the general fund and $790,000 for the road fund from timber receipts generated from the Oregon & California Railroad lands and on national forests.
At a Budget Committee meeting on Tuesday, Commissioner Doug Robertson suggested taking $18 million from the county’s reserve funds and applying it to the general fund. That would leave $3 million in cuts from the $43.1 million in general fund spending allocated this fiscal year.
On Friday, Sheriff Jim Burge was told he could maintain the same level of funding as provided in this year’s budget. However, he will have to absorb expenses due to contracted salary raise, increases in retirement account contributions and other additions.
District Attorney Jack Banta told the Board of Commissioners he was willing to turn over enforcement of child support orders to the state to save an estimated $100,00 or more. He and Rick Wesenberg, a senior deputy district attorney, said that would allow their office to avoid laying off prosecutors and halting prosecution of misdemeanor crimes.
“We want to do everything we can to keep our services at as high of a level as possible,” Wesenberg said. “But we realize the quandary that the board is in.”
Juvenile Department officials weren’t scheduled to meet with the commissioners until Tuesday, during a second day of department head meetings. However, commissioners made it clear during talks with the sheriff and district attorney that the Juvenile Department and the Justice of the Peace courts in outlying communities would receive the same high priority.
Peggy Kennerly, the county’s health director, said her department would look to turn over Umpqua Transit to a nonprofit group. That would save $124,000 a year in operational costs provided by the county.
The Health Department took over Umpqua Transit at the beginning of the 2006-07 fiscal year, following the demise of the Umpqua Regional Council of Governments.
The agency is working on a Request for Proposal it hopes to have ready to be sent out early next month.
Overall, Kennerly was asked to trim 25 percent from the current $2.2 million general fund contribution. She said she would look at a number of nonmandated programs for reductions while maintaining a wide range of programs meant to protect public health and provide services for babies and children.
Public Works Director Robb Paul, whose department has a current budget of $21 million, unveiled a 10-year reduction plan. It would drop $5 million in spending the first year and $1 million other years until it reached $9 million in spending cuts in years nine and 10. The number of full-time equivalent employees would go from 121 down to 40.
Further cuts would be tempered by using a portion of the $70 million in reserve funds the department has. Paul suggested using $7 million in reserves each of the first two years and ramping that amount down until the final $2 million was used in the 10th year.
Commissioner Marilyn Kittelman told Paul she would like to see deeper personnel cuts. That would allow the department to cut costs while still providing money to pave roads and fill potholes. That, she said, would provide better benefit to the county as a whole.
Paul did not provide a recommendation for trimming his department’s solid waste budget, but said he did not have a lot of choices. Of the $4 million spent yearly to operate the county landfill and transfer stations, all but about $245,000 comes from the safety net.
“The only thing that I can do is reduce services or start charging fees. And that’s been a bad word as long as we’ve had a landfill,” Paul said.
He told the commissioners he would look at how much money might be saved by closing the landfill and 12 transfer sites two days a week.
The Board of Commissioners will hold another series of gatherings Tuesday, to meet with department heads they didn’t see Friday.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
Commissioners said they would minimize cuts to the Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office and the Health Department to protect public safety during the new fiscal year that begins July 1. They spent the day meeting with department heads, both individually and in a group, to discuss the budget situation.
The county stands to lose $52 million if Congress fails to extend the safety net, which is currently operating under a one-year emergency extension. Of that, $24.7 million goes to the general fund, while $14.4 million goes into the Public Works road fund.
Without the safety net, the county could expect to receive about $3.6 million for the general fund and $790,000 for the road fund from timber receipts generated from the Oregon & California Railroad lands and on national forests.
At a Budget Committee meeting on Tuesday, Commissioner Doug Robertson suggested taking $18 million from the county’s reserve funds and applying it to the general fund. That would leave $3 million in cuts from the $43.1 million in general fund spending allocated this fiscal year.
On Friday, Sheriff Jim Burge was told he could maintain the same level of funding as provided in this year’s budget. However, he will have to absorb expenses due to contracted salary raise, increases in retirement account contributions and other additions.
District Attorney Jack Banta told the Board of Commissioners he was willing to turn over enforcement of child support orders to the state to save an estimated $100,00 or more. He and Rick Wesenberg, a senior deputy district attorney, said that would allow their office to avoid laying off prosecutors and halting prosecution of misdemeanor crimes.
“We want to do everything we can to keep our services at as high of a level as possible,” Wesenberg said. “But we realize the quandary that the board is in.”
Juvenile Department officials weren’t scheduled to meet with the commissioners until Tuesday, during a second day of department head meetings. However, commissioners made it clear during talks with the sheriff and district attorney that the Juvenile Department and the Justice of the Peace courts in outlying communities would receive the same high priority.
Peggy Kennerly, the county’s health director, said her department would look to turn over Umpqua Transit to a nonprofit group. That would save $124,000 a year in operational costs provided by the county.
The Health Department took over Umpqua Transit at the beginning of the 2006-07 fiscal year, following the demise of the Umpqua Regional Council of Governments.
The agency is working on a Request for Proposal it hopes to have ready to be sent out early next month.
Overall, Kennerly was asked to trim 25 percent from the current $2.2 million general fund contribution. She said she would look at a number of nonmandated programs for reductions while maintaining a wide range of programs meant to protect public health and provide services for babies and children.
Public Works Director Robb Paul, whose department has a current budget of $21 million, unveiled a 10-year reduction plan. It would drop $5 million in spending the first year and $1 million other years until it reached $9 million in spending cuts in years nine and 10. The number of full-time equivalent employees would go from 121 down to 40.
Further cuts would be tempered by using a portion of the $70 million in reserve funds the department has. Paul suggested using $7 million in reserves each of the first two years and ramping that amount down until the final $2 million was used in the 10th year.
Commissioner Marilyn Kittelman told Paul she would like to see deeper personnel cuts. That would allow the department to cut costs while still providing money to pave roads and fill potholes. That, she said, would provide better benefit to the county as a whole.
Paul did not provide a recommendation for trimming his department’s solid waste budget, but said he did not have a lot of choices. Of the $4 million spent yearly to operate the county landfill and transfer stations, all but about $245,000 comes from the safety net.
“The only thing that I can do is reduce services or start charging fees. And that’s been a bad word as long as we’ve had a landfill,” Paul said.
He told the commissioners he would look at how much money might be saved by closing the landfill and 12 transfer sites two days a week.
The Board of Commissioners will hold another series of gatherings Tuesday, to meet with department heads they didn’t see Friday.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
