No decision yet on city budget

Facing the possibility of having to make "a double-digit" percentage decrease in the 2011 budget expenditures, the finance committee of the Hillsboro City Council said it will take the weekend to review numbers before meeting to make a recommendation to a full council during their regular session scheduled for Monday, July 12 at 7 p.m.

The committee will meet at 4:30 p.m. in council chambers at the fire station on North East Street, to discuss recommending a plan of action the city should take regarding a pending deficit projected at $269,000 by the end of 2011. 

Finance committee member Dave Shoemaker said during a meeting Friday that he felt all city council members should be in attendance at the committee meeting Monday, as the decision is "too important for just a committee of three" to recommend. 

Committee chairperson Peter Pence said he agreed. 

Council committees have been attempting to address the issue of a pending general fund deficit after Hillsboro Auditor Gary Lewis reported on the matter in April. The city has made various cuts, including the layoffs of three city workers in the administration building.

The projected deficit has been as high as $730,000, and as low as just under $164,000. On July 6, it was reported that after meeting with city department heads, the pending deficit is now $269,000.

The finance committee had asked Lewis, in looking to the 2012 budget, to run numbers and prepare scenarios that would give the city carryovers of $350,000 and $450,000. Lewis told the committee that he would be comfortable if the city had a carryover between those two numbers. 

Lewis said that in order to achieve those carryover numbers, there would have to "be cuts across the board," and that he did not go line by line making the potential cuts.  

Lewis later said that he could not recall a time in which the city has had to cut so much out of its projected budget. 

"Looking at the budget and all the figures projected, unless something major changes in income, cash carryover, or department cutting their budgets, we're looking at a double-digit (percentage) cut in 2011," Shoemaker said. 

"That is correct," Lewis said, but that would be taking into consideration the cuts individual departments have already made. 

Pence and Shoemaker said that it is not up to council what gets cut from the budget, and Shoemaker specified, "We don't do the hiring and firing."

Lewis said that he filed for an extension to submit his tax budget to the county.

The projected carryover from 2010 to 2011 is estimated between $322,000 and $350,000, and Shoemaker asked Lewis if he was comfortable with those figures. 

"Comfortable?" Lewis said. "As comfortable as I am going to be. Hopefully we can build that up in various ways (until the end of the year."

"These (carryover) figures could take a drop," Shoemaker said, and referenced the city's medical insurance, of which there are no figures yet available on a potential increase. 

Shoemaker also said there are a lot of variables that go into preparing the budget, and what is able to be carried over. 

Doug Wagoner, the city's insurance agent, according to Lewis, "Knows what we're up against," and is preparing the medical insurance plan so the city has a better idea on what potential increases it could face. 

Lewis said unless there was an unexpected increase in income, such as from estate taxes, "I don't foresee any large chunks of money coming in."

"Wow," Shoemaker said, and shook his head. He then suggested to Pence they look at the figures over the weekend, and try to consult all council members in making the decision, as well as Hillsboro Mayor Dick Zink and safety and service director Ralph Holt. 

"In all due fairness, it would be important to have their input on the budget situation," Shoemaker said. 

Pence said after the meeting that Monday the committee will "Be making a general recommendation. We don't want to micromanage departments, and we don't want to have to make cuts. We're left with having to decide how best to address (the pending deficit)."

Lewis said that he is "Looking for guidance on how to start preparing the tax budget, which is the second most important thing council does." 

The most important thing, he said, is approving the actual budget. 

Lewis that it is not uncommon for the projected budgets to fluctuate as the department heads submit what items they can live with and "what they feel they truly can't live without."

Holt had said that the $100,000 that was added to the budget was from "police and fire."

In addition to Pence, Shoemaker and Lewis, several Hillsboro firefighters were in attendance, including Hillsboro Fire Chief Jerry Powell, who told The Highland County Press that the fire department has been able to save a significant amount of dollars through attrition and by utilizing volunteers and part-time firefighters as opposed to the "higher-paid" full-time firefighters. Powell said that overtime has significantly been reduced to the point where overtime for he and assistant chief Ed Puckett is "almost nonexistent. Maybe four hours a week here and there."

Legislation that council had considered in February, which would have saved the city an estimated $50,000 by eliminating overtime pay for salaried administrators, according to Powell, would not save that much today, because their overtime has been reduced. 

Powell said that even though the fire department budget was higher in 2010 than in 2009, "We had already been cut $188,000. We took the greatest hit of any department in the city."

Powell said the biggest cut came in "Wages. They have been slashed drastically, line by line. We're barely making it. Just because somebody cuts your vehicle maintenance line item from $50,000 to $10,000 doesn't mean they still don't need fixed."

Lewis said that if he had to say which department had been cut the most, he would say it is the police department, as they have not been able to replace two officers, who recently retired, with anyone. 

"The truth is in the paperwork and in the numbers," Shoemaker said.