“It’s not locked down yet,” Commissioner T.C. Rogers said on Friday, adding it will be by Monday’s commission meeting.
The county’s general fund budget — originally set at $95.2 million — will now drop to around $92 million, which meant cuts to departments that include public safety and job and family services. The general fund is backed by taxpayer money, but there are a host of other revenue sources that support all of the departments, boards and offices.
County Administrator Charlie Young said they have had a series meetings for weeks with office holders, boards and department heads, discussing performance pay, a concept the commissioners have advocated but some have resisted.
"We've just had a lot more discussions," he said. "A big part of it is the performance pay initiative the commissioners have."
Butler County Finance Director Tawana Keels said the office holders and department heads requested a total of $97.3 million worth of general fund dollars and $12 million in capital requests for next year, but they will need to get to $92.2 million to balance the budget.
The county was anticipating a jump of $2.3 million — or 5.4 percent — in sales taxes next year, but Keels has trimmed that back to about $41.5 million overall.
The $3.1 million hole in the budget is due to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ruling Ohio has unlawfully collected sales taxes on Medicaid matching monies on transit systems. That sales tax disappears in July.
The state has promised to find a way to mitigate the hit that counties will take because of the federal decision. The state Medicaid department did not respond to queries from the Journal-News.
Rogers, who is the commissioners’ representative on the County Commissioners Association of Ohio, said he has been told by multiple sources the state doesn’t have a plan yet.
Young said he does think a plan will be forthcoming from the state but doesn’t believe it will be a long-term solution. He likened it to other taxes the state has repealed or reduced — like estate and local government funds — where they institute it for a time and then phase it out.
Young is also concerned that Gov. John Kasich is warning another recession might be around the corner.
“That’s a strong signal to everyone when you hear the governor of our state making these statements,” he said. “He has stated this much, that he is going to deliver a fiscally sound state budget and treasury to the next governor, and I think we can look to what he has done in the past, through the budget process, to set our expectations for the future — and that certainly includes reducing local government funding from the state.”
Setting the county budget can also be a little tricky because there are independent boards — and the judiciary — that the commissioners have no fiscal control over. One such board is the Veterans Service Commission, and that board exercised its independence last week. Keels had asked the vet board to cut almost $300,000 out of its budget. Those commissioners agreed to reduce their budget by $47,500 last month but refused to budge on the balance this past week.
“We’ve already discussed this at our last meeting, and we already authorized what we felt we could do,” Vet Board President Tom Jeffers said.
The state legislature carves out a small percentage of every county’s general fund for veterans assistance — and in Butler County that equates to about $3.4 million. The veterans board historically has spent about $2 million or less — next year the budget is $2.2 million — doling out emergency cash, helping veterans navigate the Veterans Administration system, arranging and paying for transportation to medical appointments and finding local services for everything from legal issues to marriage counseling.
The commissioners also have no control next year over legislatively-authorized raises for elected officials. Most elected officials in Butler County will get raises next year — the first time in eight years — with legislature-approved increases totalling $399,951 worth of county and state funds.
Senate President Keith Faber, (R-Celina) explained why in a YouTube interview.
“The goal is to make sure you provide adequate compensation,” Faber said. “I’d be the first one to say that maybe judges, prosecutors and sheriffs probably need raises. You’ve got sheriffs who make less than their deputies; that’s probably not a good long-term management strategy.”
With the challenges this year the commissioners are holding firm that they will not dip into reserves, their rainy day fund or veer off their path to being general fund debt-free by 2020. The debt that stood at $91.3 million in 2009, was scheduled to be $43 million at the end of last year and zero by 2020 under a debt reduction acceleration plan.
Rogers said the discussions with office holders. boards and departments have been productive, but the commissioners could not just let everyone get what they ask for, despite the fact the finances have been very strong for several years.
“From the initial requests, had we followed on that trajectory the balances we have now would be wiped out in about six years, so that’s why we can’t do that,” Rogers said. “But our discussions with the office holders and departments generally have been very encouraging and they have bought in to our long range plan.”
About the Author