By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
The Ellis County Commission approved the 2019 budget at Monday’s commission meeting but stressed that more needs to be done to cut potential budget deficits.
The commission approved the $22.35 million general fund budget on a 2-1 vote with Commissioner Barb Wasinger voting against the budget.
Wasinger has been the driving force on the commission for cutting spending and said projections that show the a nearly $9.9 million shortfall by 2024 are “scary.”
“While I appreciate that everyone’s trying to find ways to generate revenue and find small cuts to cut spending, unfortunately what’s been done to date is superficial and mostly symbolic and it doesn’t attack the core problem, overspending,” said Wasinger.
According to Wasinger the county would have to impose a $6.6 million tax increase over the next four years to continue operating at its current levels.
Wasinger called on departments to find more places to cut in the 2019 budget and the commission instructed staff to begin working on the 2020 budget in November.
The 2019 budget will be the third in-a-row without a mill levy increase. The mill levy for 2019 is 36.918.
In past years the commission has used carry over cash, money that is left over from the previous year to cover up the budget deficits. County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes said the county had $6 million in carry over cash just three years ago but that has dwindled to about $2 million for 2019.
They have also used money received from the state for the oil and gas depletion fund, money from the wind farm and money that was slated for saving as ways to avoiding an increase in the mill levy and pay down the deficit.
Commissioners Dean Haselhorst and Marcy McClelland also expressed concern with the current budget situation.
“Nobody likes to raise taxes,” Haselhorst said. “Nobody likes to raise the mill levy.”
“Going forward we’re probably have to make so more cuts that people are not going to like (and) that will probably amount to laying off personnel, that’s the only place we have left to cut.”
Haselhorst called for a hiring freeze. He said if someone retires they should not fill that position but said, “that’s a start, it don’t fix the problem.”
“It’s not popular, we’ve been talking about it for a long time and the day of reckoning is getting very close,” said Haselhorst.
Haselhorst again brought up the idea of cutting the commission’s salary. After calling for a 2 percent cut earlier in the budget process he called for a 5 percent cut starting September 1. The commission would also forgo a 1 percent pay increase scheduled for September.
The combined commission salary was $59,343 in 2018. But another $64,674 goes to benefits for the three commissioners.
Administrator Smith-Hanes reminded the commission that they are already working to cut the future deficits.
“You have already started fixing the problem,” Smith-Hanes.
“It’s going to just take time,” said Haselhorst. “It’s a process that didn’t happen in a year.”
The commission also approved an amendment to the pay and classification plan that allows the county to identify positions within the county that are having a difficult time finding and maintaining employees and then offer premium pay, for a limited time to fill those positions.
The commission also approved the creation of a Drug Court Grant Fund which will collected and hold any funds received for the Ellis County Drug Court. The commission also transferred $10,000 into the fund.