County seeks to trim $700,000 from 2013-14 budget

Declining returns on investments and the elimination in Secure Rural Schools funding has pinched Lincoln County to the point where officials are looking at cutting at least $700,000 from its 2013-14 budget.

Commissioners have been in a budget-tightening mode for months in anticipation of the decrease of federal funding. In fact, during the afternoon session Wednesday, commissioners asked Sheriff Roby Bowe and Undersheriff Brent Faulkner to trim $200,000 from the $3.899 million the department received in 2012-13.

“We’ve got to cut $4.5 million from our budget (during the next five years),” Presiding Commissioner Tony Berget said Wednesday. “We’re in deficit spending right now. If we don’t cut, we’ll be broke in the next three years. We’ve looked at raising revenue, but there really just aren’t that many options.”

Despite the bleak forecast, Troy Commissioner Ron Downey said Lincoln County is better off than most other counties.

“If we have any advantage, it’s that we do have some money in the bank,” Downey said. “Other counties don’t have that.”

It is that thinking, some officials, like Bowe, hope funding could be restored.

“It’s like the knot in the end of the rope. We hope to be able to hang on,” Bowe said. “Still, we want to do our fair share (of cuts).”

It’s for that reason, commissioners have drafted a joint letter with Sanders County commissioners to Gov. Steve Bullock seeking a return of the 5.1 percent Secure Rural Schools funding. Last year, Lincoln County received just less than $3 million for that fund, which constituted the lion’s share of the Lincoln County Road Department’s $4.783 million budget.

“We don’t know what we’re going to do with the Road Department,” Berget said. “It may come down to we just don’t plow (snow).” 

The loss of Secure Rural School funding, Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) and a decline in interest revenue on investments have forced the county to tighten its belt. For 2012-13, the county budget was $23.122 million.

“We’re looking at cutting between a fourth and a fifth of the budget,” Berget said. “We need to cut at least $700,000 (for 2013-14), and that number could go up to $1.25 million. That’s just to avoid deficit spending.”

In the coming weeks, Lincoln County Clerk and Recorder Tammy Lauer will be working closely with Higgins Trotter in establishing next year’s budget. The county’s fiscal year begins July 1, but a budget must be submitted to the state long before.

During the meeting Wednesday, Berget explained a perfect-storm scenario in which Sequestration cuts in addition to the gradual decline of interest-earned income from county investments has drastically reduced revenue.

Trotter Higgins outlined the decline of investment income, that during the 2007-08 fiscal year totaled $1.156 million, to the anticipated $100,000 the county is expected to receive this year.

“We had a few more investments then, but we used to get 7 or 8 percent (return). Now, we’re getting 1 percent or a little more,” Trotter Higgins said.

Similarly, the decline in Secure Rural School funding has plummeted. As recently as the 2008-09 fiscal year, the county received $4.066 million. This year, the county received $2.867 million, but it was told it may have to give the money back, most of which already has been spent.

The county also is looking at ending its Flex program spending for county employees, which could save it $84,000, as well as reducing the number of justice of the Peace positions from two to one. 

“We wanted to be up front with everyone,” Berget said. “We’ve researched this and there aren’t too many counties that have two (justices).” Currently, Stormy Langston and Jay Sheffield serve as Libby-area justices.

Berget stopped short of saying the county is implementing a hiring freeze. Instead, department heads have been instructed to submit a request for hiring to commissioners before proceeding, and Berget made it clear that is only to replace resignations or retirements.

“We’re not here to say this is how it’s going to be. We want to be open and upfront about these cuts. … We’re trying to avoid sending anyone a pink slip,” Berget said.

During the last budget session Wednesday, Bowe and Faulkner said the cuts would be difficult, but they would work with county officials to achieve them.

“We’ll look at that $200,000, and we’ll go from there,” Faulkner said.

Currently, the Sheriff’s Department has two vacancies: one in the detention center and another of a deputy based in Troy.

“(Staffing) is a never-ending battle for us,” Faulkner said. “Let us give (the cuts) a go, and we’ll go from there.”