Budget cuts may cost jobs
Marion County is going to bite the budgetary bullet, and three employees are going to have to bite it, too, it appears.
After much discussion of budgetary shortfalls in 2003 and 2004 with their accountant/adviser Scot Loyd, county commissioners Monday decided to take a very close look at cutting three county employees from the payroll.
Commission Chairman Howard Collett asked aloud, "do we have any surplus personnel anywhere?"
Commissioner Bob Hein said he thought the county could "get rid of one deputy and one car in the sheriff's department."
Commissioner Leroy Wetta agreed, saying that would save $50,000 to $54,000. He also said he thought the county treasurer's office had one too many employees.
Each employee dropped from the payroll will save the county an estimated $35,000, commissioners said, in salary and employee benefits.
Commissioners also agreed that one person, a section man or a truck driver, could be cut from the road and bridge department's staff.
The county has been erecting about three "generic" bridges per year. This will be cut back to two per year, saving another $70,000 per year as long as the current economic hard times continue.
Hein said it could even be cut back to one bridge per year, but Wetta and Collett could not see doing that.
Loyd also will get in touch with Jonathan Small, bond attorney in Topeka, to find out exactly how much the county will save in interest payments by paying off an encumbrance of $1.112 million in bond debt in October rather than refinancing it and spreading it down subsequent years.
The county had made a commitment to citizens to pay off the road and bridge bond issue in October, commissioners said.
The early payoff may result in an interest savings of about $600,000. Loyd will likely have the exact figure for commissioners when they have their end-of-month meeting at 9 a.m. Thursday at the courthouse.
By cutting three county employees from the payroll, plus one deputy's car, plus one bridge, commissioners hope to effect a savings of $190,000 in the budget.
Wetta also suggested a hiring freeze be instituted, but no decision was made on that.
He does not want to touch the planned carry-over of $94,000 in the employee benefits fund on Dec. 31, 2003. "We need that for protection," he said.
Loyd will meet with commissioners from 10 until 11 a.m. Thursday, and perhaps in the afternoon as well.
The budgets for 2003 and 2004 are to be finalized Thursday. The 2004 budget is to be approved by commissioners Monday, and published Aug. 6.
Commissioners are hoping to avoid raising the total county mill levy, but it may have to be increased by two-thirds of a mill or more.
Loyd said Osage County is looking at raising its levy by six to eight mills. Its current levy is about 34 mills, he said.
Collett said Butler County's levy is around 34 mills and Sedgwick's about 35.
Marion County's is 50. However, a county unit government is in effect here, and in those other counties, township governments provide roads and road maintenance, and other services.
That makes a big difference in the levy.
