Small Town News

How will continuing budget difficulties affect the county?

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The county board of supervisors met last week in a regular session and were briefed by county manager Terry Doolittle on the budget and recent changes at the state. The 9:30 meeting lasted until 3:00 with no break for lunch.

Heather Murphy, communications director for the county, said that the briefings are part of the budgeting process. "We're all working toward the adoption of a tentative budget in May and then the adoption of the final budget, hopefully in June," she said.

The county budget supports programs and services around the county, like the Sheriff's Office, the assessor, the Superior Court, health and human services, and animal control. Many services could face cuts next year.

The severity and scope of cuts will largely depend on the county property tax levy and the final state budget.

A proposed state sales tax increase has major implications for the state budget and therefore, the county. The temporary one-cent tax increase will be decided by voters in a special election on May 18*. Until the results are in, budgets at the state and county are in limbo.

Whether or not the sales tax passes, the state is cutting almost $3.5 million in funding in the county. If the sales tax doesn't pass, the state will shift even more costs to the county.

"The outcome of the failure of the statewide temporary sales tax would be to shift prisoners - 94% of which are violent repeat offenders - who have one or less years on their term out of the state prisons," Murphy said. "The state would release them to the custody of the county jails."

Murphy said that this release might result in lost revenue if federal inmates, who the county is paid to house, are crowded out. "Even if we didn't have to give up a revenue stream," she said, "you have costs that are the state's obligation being shifted to the county."

These costs, including probation officer and operating costs, could be as much as $1 million.

In Doolittle's presentation to the board of supervisors were budget scenarios combining all these impacts. If the sales tax passes, the county will have a $5.6 to $10.4 million shortfall depending on its property tax levy.

If the sales tax doesn't pass, the county will have a $6.6 to $11.4 million shortfall. Options to balance the budget include using money from a rainy day fund and reducing work force numbers, salaries, and programs.

"If the sales tax fails that means we're cutting into major programs and many deeply," said Murphy. She said that the majority of county money is spent on public safety and the courts. "Those are areas most people don't want to see cut because those result in a direct increase in problems, whether it's a direct increase in crime or an increase in case backlog," she said.

Despite two years of cuts most ser- ? vices have been maintained. "We've sustained significant budget cuts over the last two years," Murphy said. "We're maintaining coverage of the same number of square miles, we're still seeing a growth rate that's the fastest in AZ, and we're still maintaining services."

With two years of budget cuts though, some services have been reduced. There have been reductions in county recycling pickups and community cleanups. Spending on capital infrastructure and roads has also been reduced.

"People in health and human services experienced layoffs," Murphy said. "Building safety was one of the areas that experienced significant cuts in the 08/09 budget years."

In order to cope with additional cuts, Murpfry said that the county supervisors asked Doolittle and the county staff to find out which services are mandated by law and which aren't. "They directed the county manager to look at what's not mandated and therefore can be cut," she said.

Programs and services that could be cut include courthouse renovation, tuition reimbursement, and the visitor center. The savings from cutting all non-mandated programs would total $.56 million.

Murphy said that it was too soon to tell what would eventually be cut. "The supervisors had some additional questions for the county manager. There were some misgivings," she said. "We're a little ways off and we're still gathering information."

She said that the county was considering everything, including future layoffs, reductions in force, and pay cuts to balance the budget.

"It's all going to depend on the May 18th vote on the sales tax," she said. "We're trying to maintain the level of service, accommodate the growth, and adjust our finances and spending accordingly."

Editor s Note: See next week s edition for a story on proposed county and state tax increases.



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