They adopted a spending plan on Tuesday that reflected those budget predictions.
“We budgeted very conservatively,” Precinct 1 Commissioner Carlos Salazar Jr. explained. “We expect to receive $358,000 less revenue this budget year, compared to the 2008-09 budget year, and we budgeted more for fuel, utilities and jail expenses.”
If county officials budgeted correctly, the county won’t be forced to dip into its fund balance to bail itself out over the next 12 months, Salazar added.
And if they budgeted too conservatively, then the county may end the fiscal year with a surplus, he noted.
“We just thought it would be better to be safe than sorry,” Salazar said.
The 2009-10 budget will finance county operations and pay debt between Oct. 1, 2009, and Sept. 30, 2010.
Budget planners expect the county to take in $12,769,024 over the next 12 months.
They expect the county to spend $12,940,381 during the same time period, $26,970 of that in new budget items added during Tuesday night’s meeting.
County commissioners adopted a tax rate that is slightly higher than last year’s tax rate to help make up the $171,357 difference.
The county will charge taxpayers .42355 cents for every $100 worth of property they own this budget year to help finance the 2009-10 budget.
At that rate, the county expects to raise $19,000 more in property tax revenue this budget year.
At least $35,000 of the $4,684,132 in property tax revenue the county is expected to receive this coming fiscal year is new tax revenue.
The owner of a $100,000 home can expect to pay about $420 in taxes to the county this year under the higher rate before exemptions.
The county levied a tax rate of .41428 per $100 value during the past 12 months.
The tax rate will increase by .00927 per $100 valuation this year — which means the tax rate will increase by less than a penny.
Budget planners expect to dip into the county’s reserve fund this year and take out nearly $80,000 to help make up the $171,357 deficit this budget year.
The county will have just over $5 million in its fund balance by Sept. 30, 2010, enough to foot the bills for about a month and a half in a time of emergency, if budget predictions are accurate.
Precinct 2 County Commissioner Susan Stasny said the budget is lean.
“This is a bare-bones budget with only mandatory increases,” she said. “Basically, we took last year’s budget and then cut.”
Commissioners were forced to fund $40,000 toward the victims’ assistance fund, which had been financed by a grant for the last 10 years. Commissioners also gave an additional $10,000 to the district attorney’s office to help offset the cost of a third prosecutor.
But Stasny said commissioners and department heads slashed $180,000 from the proposed spending plan prior to Tuesday night’s meeting. County Judge David Silva said the 2009-10 budget includes about $86,000 in cuts to the county’s self-insured health care plan for employees.
County Auditor Susana Morón said the county has built up a sizeble fund for its self-insurance program and insurance claims were down, which when combined helped save the county $75 per month per employee.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Eloy Rodriguez reminded his colleagues that county governments nationwide, not just Bee County, are grappling with rising costs and falling revenue.
Salazar said he believes taxpayers will be happy with the final spending plan.
He credits his fellow members on the commissioners court, as well as department heads, with slashing costs and helping to keep them down.
Silva said he believes he and his colleagues on the court did the correct thing by adopting a fiscally conservative budget.
He said he is worried that the economy will continue to plummet nationwide, which could give rise to inflation, job loss and less property tax and sales tax revenue.
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