$181 million package passes hearings quick
LAKEPORT — The county Board of Supervisors concluded its budget hearings for the fiscal year 2006 07 “in record time this year,” according to County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox.
“It was the shortest time ever and the biggest budget ever,” said Cox.
The public hearings were held Monday, and concluded in a matter of five hours.
Historically, Cox said, the annual hearings might take up to a week.
“If we”re having trouble with our finances, there”s always disagreement over where cutbacks should take place,” he explained.
Cox meets with county department heads to review their requests for funding, to determine what can be financed and ultimately to prepare recommendations to present to the Board at the budget hearings.
After going through the 315-page book of recommendations page by page, the board approved all 303 items as recommended.
“When there is the ability to do more, there is less debate,” said Cox of this year”s improved county budget.
The new fiscal year”s budget totals $181 million, up from 2005-06”s $156-million budget.
A number of factors contributed to this budget inflation over the prior year, said Cox, including more discretionary funds available due to the 15-percent hike in property taxes.
Cox said another contributing factor is the recent passage of Proposition 1-A, which protects county funds from being used to balance the state”s budget, and California”s general state of improved financial well-being.
“From our dealings with the state, it”s like night and day,” said Cox, referring to the state”s diminished tendency to use county funds to cover costs this year.
The additional $25 million in this latest budget may seem like a significant improvement, but Cox said that perception is due in part to changes in the way county moneys are represented.
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), which oversees how all of the country”s government agencies do their accounting, enacted federal mandate GASB 34 three years ago to call for a change to how the county”s funds must be represented.
The mandate requires trust fund monies previously reported separately to be represented as part of the county”s budget. The moneys were available to the county to be used for specific purposes, and are still allocated for those same purposes as nondiscretionary funds, said Cox.
County Auditor-Controller Pam Cochrane said the former trust funds are now designated as agency funds, and are used to fund social service and health programs, Public Works, and the offices of the sheriff and assessor.
This change in accounting required staff to go through each trust fund and determine where it belonged, said Cox.
“I think the intent was to make this information more readily accessible to the public,” said Cox. “These trust funds were never published as part of the budget, and generally people wouldn”t know to ask for these. This makes it much more transparent to the public, which is a good thing.”
Implementing this mandate over the past two years, he said, has given the appearance of a more substantial increase in budget funds than there has actually been.
All things considered, the county”s revenue has increased substantially, said Cochrane. The General Fund separate from the non-discretionary funding allocations which now incorporate the former trust funds allows for $52 million in expenditures this year, an 11-percent increase over last year”s $47 million.
“Over the last 15 years, each year the budget has grown, but over the last two years it has grown the most dramatically,” said Cochrane.
She concurred with Cox”s assessment that the combination of substantially increased property taxes and less impingement from the state has facilitated the increase.
The approved recommendations go before the Board of Supervisors for final approval as this year”s final budget on Sept. 5.
The budget will be reviewed mid-year beginning in January, and amended as needed in February.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
