By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
HAYS – The Ellis County Commission continued to call on county employees to find ways to save money as they begin the 2017 budget process.
At Monday night’s commission meeting, County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes asked the commission for a direction for setting the budget. The message from the commission was similar to last year’s — the county cannot continue to take money from departments such as public works and the oil and gas depletion fund to fill a budget shortfall.
“We can’t use up all of our reserves, so we’re going to have to find ways to cut, pure and simple,” said Commissioner Barb Wasinger. “It does not make good fiscal sense to use every dime of saving you have when we don’t even know what the following year will bring.”
Last year, the commission transferred approximately $4.5 million from the oil and gas depletion fund to the general fund, using some of the money in the 2015 budget and saving the rest for the future.
For 2016, the county approved $22.5 million in general fund expenditures. It also approved a 0.16 mill levy increase.
Smith-Hanes estimated the county has an approximate cash balance of $3.6 million for 2016. But if the county is forced to use that money, it will not have any in 2018.
After approving the county’s 2015 budget last year, both Haselhorst and Wasinger said they were not pleased with the budget. Haselhorst called for county employees to cut 5 percent for 2017.
Smith-Hanes asked the commission to clarify where the 5 percent cut comes from — 5 percent of the current year’s total, of the projected total or the amount that the department has control.
In an example from Smith-Hanes, the county clerk’s office would have to reduce staff to reach the 5 percent cut in total spending levels. He said the percentage each department cuts may have to vary depending on departments. But he agreed that “some level of reductions is probably in order for next year’s budget.”
“We’ve had wonderful staff, and we’ve had wonderful services in Ellis County, and we want to maintain that,” said Wasinger. “However, we cannot maintain that with no funds.
“So we can’t maintain that level, we can maintain good services,” she added.
The decrease in oil and gas revenue continues to hit the county hard. Last year, the county based its budget off of oil at $38 per barrel and it was valued at $34. For this year, the county based the budget around $27. On Monday, Kansas Common was trading at $22 per barrel.
The commission pointed to potentially consolidating regional Extension services, not hiring new employees to fill open positions and finding potential savings within each department. County staff will meet next week to discuss the commission’s directives.
In other business:
• Rural Fire Director Darin Myers informed the commission he would present them with a burn ban resolution at next week’s meeting. Myers says he wanted to wait a week to give people notice before the actual ban goes into effect.
• The commission approved a letter of agreement with Adams Brown Beran and Ball to help consult with the budget process. They helped put together last year’s budget and will help Smith-Hanes with this year’s budget because this is his first year working the county budget.
• The commission agreed to release the escrow account for road maintenance with Buckeye Wind Energy.