It’s balanced but not bulletproof.
San Juan County’s 2011 financial plan – unveiled as a preliminary budget Oct. 12 – relies on some gains in income here and there, and more than a half-million dollars in salary and wage concessions, to offset revenue declines in other areas and to keep the county in the black during the year ahead.
And there’s some money set aside – like $130,000 in the “budget stabilization” fund – in reserve as well.
Furthermore, the preliminary budget authored by the county financial team, led by Administrator Pete Rose and Auditor Milene Henley, has been balanced – a total of $47.3 million in revenue and spending across all funds – without the use of any “cash on hand” that the county may expect to have by the end of the year. It features a $15.2 million general fund bolstered by $2.6 million in outside grants and anticipates the loss of only one-and-a-half full-time positions.
In total, the preliminary budget, as proposed, is nearly $2 million less than this year’s budget, an amount which is equivalent to the anticipated drop in the Road Fund, which this year totaled $10 million and will weigh in at $8 million the next.
Rose said that with the exception of several outside grants, which will boost the general fund by about $275,000 over this year’s total, spending and staffing levels as identified in the preliminary budget are “very comparable” to what has taken place this year. He added the preliminary budget calls for 4 percent less in general fund spending than the 2008 total; that figure would drop to 11 percent without the $1 million influx in revenue generated by Proposition 1, a voter-approved property-tax increase earmarked for support of 11 separate programs and positions.
Deliberations over the budget began in earnest for the County Council with presentation of the preliminary revenue and spending plan. A final budget must be adopted by mid-December.
Though balanced, the preliminary plan relies on an uptick in certain revenue sources that have proved unsteady or in decline as of late. It anticipates a 3 percent increase in sales-tax receipts, $130,000 more in building and land-use permit fees, a $28,000 bump in collection of state permit and license fees, and a $38,000 boost in payments for public health services.
In addition, the Department of Public Works has proposed closing the San Juan and Lopez transfer stations to self-haul customers beginning next year in order to balance the budget of its chronically cash-starved solid-waste division. The department may also be forced to eliminate jobs in its road division to balance that budget next year as well.
Highlights of San Juan County’s preliminary 2011 budget:
• Total spending across all funds: $47.3 million
• General fund: $15.2 million, includes $2.6 million of outside grants.
• Road: $8 million
• Land Bank: $3.9 million
• Bond payments: $3 million
• Parks: $1.4 million
• Solid Waste: $2.6 million
• Solid Waste (projects): $175,000
• Dog license: $26,350
