County budget
appears to be
on target

The devil is in the details, but the county’s proposed budget looks to be on target.

There is no tax increase included in the first draft. Trash fees will go up, which was expected considering the price of fuel.

Another tax hike would have been a bombshell, considering the local and national economies.

An increase in taxable property, plus the first year of Medicaid relief, gave new County Manager Bill Clark some wiggle room in his budget proposal, but additional allocations seem to be in the right places.

For example, we are glad to see that $175,000 is allocated to shore up the critically low fund balance. This allocation is a relatively small amount, but restoring the fund balance should be a goal in subsequent budgets.

Another plus in the budget includes funds to elevate the economic development director’s position to full time. It takes money to make money, and a fully staffed economic development office is a must.

Kudos to Clark for bidding out the county’s health insurance for a savings of more than $400,000. Why this wasn’t done in the past is hard to understand.

Commissioner Ronald Gore has asked to see a salary schedule, which is appropriate.

Some county benefits, namely retirement health insurance, are potentially budget backbreakers.

The one disappointment in the proposed budget is that education won’t get an increase for the second straight year, even though the schools are especially hard hit by gas and energy costs.

That’s why the county needs to get behind a November referendum that would add an extra quarter-cent sales tax for county use. The quarter-cent tax would replace some of what the state is taking from counties to help pay for Medicaid costs.

The sales tax referendum nearly passed here last year, but that was before the recession.

For the referendum to pass, the commissioners must promise that the money will be line-itemed each year for specific uses. Better funding for education should top the list.

But that’s in November. For now, it must be conceded that there are many needs in the county for fiscal ’08-’09, but holding expenses and taxes down during a recession is common sense.