LAKE COUNTY ? Although this year”s annual county budget hearings in August weren”t as short as last year”s ? which concluded in an unprecedented five hours, they ended on time, ran smoothly and resulted in yet another balanced budget, according to county Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox.
Since the county budget incorporates state and federal funds, Cox wrote in his Aug. 10 memo to the board accompanying the 328-page budget that while the county adopted its budget on time, the state”s late budget may have impacts down the road.
“… Due to the state legislature”s inability to comply with the state constitution by adopting a state budget on time, as of this writing we are still unaware of the full impact the state budget may have on our county”s budget. Consequently, it may be necessary to revisit our budget at a later date in order to make adjustments that will be required as a result to the final state budget,” writes Cox.
Cox meets with county department heads throughout the year to review their requests for funding, determine what can be financed, and ultimately to prepare recommendations to present to the Board of Supervisors at the budget hearings.
The 2007 ? 08 budget totals $196 million, up 9.2 percent from last year”s $181 million budget. Of that, $54.4 million is General Fund money.
Highlights include three new positions the budget creates in the Sheriff”s Department, one being a “Civilian Coroner” to relieve deputies of some of the coroner duties they perform and two correctional aids in the county jail.
Positions were also added in the District Attorney”s Office, the Probation Department, the Public Services Department, the Registrar of Voters Office the Purchasing Division the Department of Public Works, the Social Services Department, the library and the Administrative Office. At the same time, empty positions were cut, “most notably in the Mental Health Department, Public Health and Child Support Services ? all three of which are directly tied to inadequate state and federal funding,” writes Cox.
“The amount of state and federal funding hasn”t kept up with the needs on those positions,” said Cox. “Child Support in particular has received the same funding for several years with no increase in funding, but their costs of operations have increased. So we have to cut somewhere.”
A comparative analysis Cox presented to the board indicates a downward trend in funding from the state, as well as a drop in spending.
Twenty-eight percent of the county”s total budget comes from the state this year, as against 37 percent five years ago, said Cox; 13 percent comes from federal sources. The rest comes from taxes ? 16 percent this year ? service charges, forfeitures, licenses and interest income, among others.
On the spending side, the two top slices of the pie are Social Services at 22 percent and the Crime Justice System 20 percent. Public Works follows with 15 percent, Health Services at 10 percent and general government at five percent. Social Service”s spending is down six percent from the 2001 ? 02 budget, said Cox.
The county funds 954 permanent positions, spending $68.9 million on salary and benefits for those.
$18.5 million is allotted for roads, much of which Cox pointed out comes from a special federal and state fund used only for repairs to storm-damaged roads.
$2.4 million will go to a list of list projects for the county”s parks.
Cox noted that of a list of California”s counties, Lake is the only one not in debt, a fact of which he”s very proud.
“It actually went pretty smooth,” said Cox of this year”s budget hearings. “It”s a good budget, and I think people recognize that and that”s why they support it.”
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
