County spending down $1.5 million compared to last year

Three-quarters of the way through the current fiscal year, Lincoln County has spent almost $1.5 million less than it had at the same time last year.

This year’s expenditures so far — $12,046,608.02 — are $1,468,213.10 less than they were a year ago, County Administrator Darren Coldwell reported at Wednesday’s meeting of the County Commission.

“You’ve always said we would start seeing these trends when we got into it,” said Commissioner Mike Cole, referring to various cost-savings efforts Coldwell has overseen since assuming the role of administrator last Feb. 20.

Those efforts have included reducing the number of county employees not through layoffs but by not replacing some who left, and instead cross-training employees to maintain vital services.

As a result, about 45 percent of the savings have been realized in personnel costs including payroll, employee contributions and health insurance.

Significant savings have been realized in the Sheriff’s Office even with the hiring of six additional detention officers, Coldwell said, due to less overtime to pay.

Nonetheless, Coldwell said he “was pretty amazed when we ran the payroll numbers.”

“I wasn’t expecting (the savings) to be that strong,” Cole responded.

Costs were also trimmed in areas such as building and vehicle insurance.

Commissioner Jerry Bennett praised Coldwell’s fiscal creativity, calling the savings “a testimony to his hard work” and the result of seeking solutions other than raising taxes.

“That’s the way government should operate,” Bennett said.

“This does show that there definitely was some fat in the county,” Coldwell told the commissioners. “It’ll be interesting to see now what we do next quarter.”