Supervisors debate library dist. tax hike
Possible cuts, increased user fees mentioned as county begins budget sessions
The Yuma County Board of Supervisors spent Tuesday morning in the first of two budget sessions looking at the proposed 2017-18 fiscal plan, digging through most expenses and departments without any questions from those responsible for them, but a few potential changes were brought up.
The total of $229.8 million in the staff-recommended budget plan represents a 2.8 percent increase over the budget recommended for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. This includes $93.1 million for General Fund expenses, $130 million for special revenue fund spending (including the library, flood and jail districts and other funds), $5.5 million in capital improvement funds and $1 million in debt service.
The board began talking about how best to try to “stabilize” the $11.6 million library district budget, which includes $3 million toward paying off bonds issued about 10 years years ago to expand the system.
The potential problem is on the $8 million operations side of the budget, where the practice of spending around $1 million annually of what had been an excessive fund balance on library operations is on the verge of going too far in the other direction.
County budget staff is recommending increasing the library district property tax by a half-
cent over the next four years, resulting in a 2-cent boost to the tax rate which is projected to raise at least $233,000 over that period, before accounting for any increases in property value.
Board Vice-Chairman and District 2 Supervisor Russell McCloud noted the district’s total operations and debt service budget had increased by almost a million since 2012, from $10.7 million to the requested $11.6 million for the upcoming budget. The changes were smaller from 2014-17, between $11.2 million to $11.4 million.
McCloud said, “From a philosophical standpoint — nothing against our libraries, I love our libraries and the people who run them — but it’s a little bit frustrating when these costs escalate, and what we do is reach into taxpayers’ pockets, because we can. We don’t expect anything else except to take more and take more and take more.
“So what I’d like to see is a balance. Whatever we raise in taxes, I’d like to see a corresponding reduction in expenses, however that’s obtained.”
Board Chairman Tony Reyes, the supervisor for District 4, said that approach is hard to square with the idea of tax increases being the last resort.
“That sounds a little weird, because the way that you ask for an increase is proving that you need it. So how are you going to need an increase to reach your pay, and then reduce at the same time?” he asked.
“From a philosophical standpoint I hate raising taxes. What we want to do when we have to do it is find the right justification in that you’ve done everything in your grasp to keep costs down and to reduce it as much as possible. I think for the last five or six years that’s been the mantra for every department in the county. “
McCloud said whatever changes are made, either through tax increases, budget cuts or user fee increases, should be phased in starting with this upcoming year. “The sooner we start, the less abrupt it is,” he said.
Library District Director Susan Evans said fees for overdue books or renting rooms at the library for events have not changed in several years, adding “the broadband has been going up, we have a lot of people using wireless, more every day.”
Budget Director Jim Flory said the budget team would bring more analysis of the cost increases in the library district budget Wednesday for the board’s further discussion of how to move forward with that part of the budget.
Most of the rest of the morning was a parade of county department leaders coming forward and telling the board they were pleased with what they’d been allocated in the upcoming budget, or at least not interested in contesting any requests which had been denied by the county Budget Review Team, which creates the base budget every year and reviews department requests for additional personnel or items.
The overall number of positions at the county is going down by nine as vacant jobs are eliminated, but a couple of new positions were discussed at Tuesday’s meeting, including a new attorney for the County Attorney’s office and an emergency planner for the Office of Emergency Services, the latter of which will be half-funded by a grant.
Legal Defender Terri Capozzi said she proposed eliminating one employee from her department’s upcoming budget, a mitigation specialist, because there wasn’t enough work for that person to do. Mitigation specialists research possible mitigating factors and alternative sentencing after a defendant is convicted of a crime.
“That was a difficult trim, because you don’t want to lose employees, but at the same time I could not justify carrying an employee which I couldn’t engage. I even tried to adjust the position to become more of an investigator position, but I was not in a position with the situation we had to make that worthwhile.” The county human resources department is trying to find another position for that person, Capozzi said.
Unfunded requests from departments were not made public, with the exception of the County Assessor’s office. Deputy County Assessor Tony Holzer, filling in for Assessor Joe Wehrle, said he was unfamiliar with the budget hearing process, and mentioned that none of the department’s 14 requests were funded.
Some, including the addition of seven employees to handle workload, especially in the south county, were dismissed as too exorbitant under the county’s current circumstances. Another request to fund software which would integrate more market-based data into land assessments was better-received but there was conflicting information on whether the $10,000 cost was one-time or would have to be funded every year.
The board’s budget discussions will continue tomorrow at 9 a.m. in the Board of Supervisors auditorium, 198 S. Main St. Adoption of the preliminary budget is scheduled for Monday and final budget adoption for June 19.