Dealing with budget cuts

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

Solving the problem is on hold.
First order of business: understanding the problem.
The Bland County Board of Supervisors held a special meeting last week with courthouse leaders to get a grasp on the scope of state cutbacks that could result in the loss of local government jobs – unless the governing body makes up the shortfall with county funds.
While confusion reigned, Commonwealth’s Attorney Clinton Kegley summed up the issue in simple terms as he compared state funding to a water spigot.
“Come about May, they’re turning the water off,” Kegley said.
Kegley, though, stressed that he and the other four Bland County constitutional officers who are facing budget cuts (commissioner of revenue, treasurer, sheriff and clerk of court) need to know if they’ll be getting help from the supervisors well before next spring.
“We’ve got to decide now almost,” said Clerk of Court Rebecca Johnson.
Last month, Gov. Tim Kaine announced that the state is facing a $1.35 billion shortfall in the 2010 fiscal year budget, which runs from July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2010.
In order to help make up the gap, the state Compensation Board, which helps fund positions in each county’s five constitutional offices, followed up Kaine’s announcement by slashing its contributions to the budgets of the local offices.
Part of the debate last week was just how much money the offices stand to lose from the state cuts.
Bland County Administrator Willie Howlett passed out a sheet to the supervisors that indicated the new Compensation Board cuts would locally lead to a gap of $52,409 for the current budget year.
That amount comes on top of a $30,000 cut in state aid last year and a reduction of nearly the same amount that had already been factored in to this year’s budget projections.
The constitutional officers, though, stated that some of their budgets are already split 50/50 between county and state funds, meaning that, for example, the $8,133 cut to the Commissioner of Revenue’s Office cited in Howlett’s paperwork is in reality only half that amount.
The officers also pledged to do all they can to reduce spending on things like office supplies so that some of the cuts can be swallowed without affecting employee salaries.
“I think all of us are willing to cut just as much as we can,” Johnson said.
Kegley said that the offices don’t have a lot of fat to trim, but he agreed that he’d be willing to run an even leaner operation.
“We can come up with small percentages,” he said, adding that he’s willing to cut “past the bare bones.”
Howlett supported the constitutional officers’ claims that they can’t make up all of the state cuts simply through buying fewer stamps and cutting back on their copier paper purchases.
“I don’t think any of them can absorb dollars without affecting personnel,” the county administrator said. “The bottom line is you’re talking about people’s salaries.”
The state cuts to the constitutional offices affect only the staff and not the leaders themselves.
The General Assembly mandates minimum salaries for the elected positions, meaning the officers can’t take a cut out of their own paychecks to help save their employees’ jobs.
The supervisors asked the officers to determine precisely how much money they’ll need from the county to avoid layoffs or instituting furlough days.
While the state money technically won’t disappear until the end of the budget year, the officers said they need to know soon if they’ll be getting help from the county. If not, they said they need to start making cuts now or they’ll end up with no money to run their offices for practically all of May and June.
Throughout the meeting, Supervisor Henry Blessing expressed frustration with the difficulty of predicting the state and county’s financial situation in the coming months and years, especially with a new governor set to take office in January.
“This is a stab in the dark,” Blessing told the constitutional officers. “We really don’t know any more than you all do – maybe even less.”
Blessing initially advocated for waiting to make a decision on providing county funds until 2010, but the officers vehemently protested against a delay.
If the county doesn’t provide funding, Johnson said she’ll have to institute multiple furlough days for her employees, which she’d rather spread throughout the year instead of having everyone take off weeks at a time in the spring.
“In my case it’s weeks off,” said Johnson, who is facing a cut of $8,603. “When I look at it, days turn into weeks.”
Supervisor Jason Ramsey agreed with the officers that the governing body needs to make a decision sooner rather than later.
“If we wait till March it’s not going to be going home early on Friday,” he said. “It’s going to be going home for two weeks or a month.”
While Bland County’s absolute dollar cuts are less than those of most other localities due to its small population, Kegley argued that it’s actually harder for a small county to deal with the reduction in state aid.
He explained that a large office can absorb layoffs or furloughs much easier than a small office that may only employ two or three people to begin with.
Kegley also spoke of Bland County’s strong sense of community as he implored the supervisors to help save jobs.
“We’re Bland,” he said. “We’re a little different. We like to take care of our own.”
At the end of last week’s meeting, Howlett said he’d continue to gather information and meet with the constitutional officers in the hopes of giving the governing body a firmer recommendation on the issue at its regular monthly meeting scheduled for Oct. 27.
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 1-800-655-1406 or .