In this file photo, Lewis County Commissioners Gary Stamper, Edna Fund and Bobby Jackson are pictured.
Four preliminary budget options were reviewed by the Board of Lewis County Commissioners on Tuesday, with each of them outlining different scenarios for the 2018 budget ranging from a reduction in services to a possible levy shift.
The commissioners expressed a desire for a balanced budget, one that would not use money from its reserves, and that will likely come with a decrease in services.
Becky Butler, budget analyst for the county, said pursuing a balanced budget would require some departments to make reductions so they could stay within the budget.
Since every department is different, the reductions would not represent across the board cuts, Butler said. Commissioners would need to review mandated services and possibly cut out some programs not required by law.
“For myself, I’d like to work toward a balanced budget,” Commissioner Edna Fund said.
Fund said she would like to create an atmosphere where directors and the elected officials strive to save money.
Commissioners Gary Stamper and Bobby Jackson agreed, stating a balanced budget was important to them.
“My preference is to work toward a balanced budget, whatever that looks like,” Stamper said.
This year, the county is using $1.9 million in reserves to balance its budget.
Three other scenarios were also presented to the commissioners. One would mimic what was done for the 2017 budget. It would not allow for increases to operations, such as travel, supplies or training, but would allow for some changes to salaries and benefits.
The other options did not allow for any increases over the 2017 adopted budget, or included a 1 percent increase from this year.
At this point, each scenario relies on revenue assumptions, Butler said.
Some of the options under consideration to help balance the budget include a levy shift, closing the immunization program at the health department, imposing a travel stipend on directors and elected officials, consolidating some departments and funding Discover Lewis County — the county’s online tourism website — only up to the amount of money available through grants and lodging tax allocations.
The commissioners will continue to review the options and will come up with a final recommendation on July 6. Prior to that meeting, Butler and Steve Walton, the central services director for the county, will meet with the treasurer’s office to go through revenue projections.
Budget worksheets and call letters are scheduled to go out to the various departments the week of July 10, department budgets will be submitted by Aug. 14 and the preliminary budget will be presented to the commissioners on Sept. 5.
“From that point there will be meetings with offices and departments in September and October to discuss the preliminary budgets and any request for changes,” Butler said in an email. “All meetings are open to the public and we encourage anyone with questions to call or stop by the office anytime.”
The commissioners discussed condensing their budget meetings into two two-day sessions instead of conducting the different meetings with the departments over a longer span of time. They also each plan to pick a citizen from their district to be part of the budget process and deliberations to encourage ongoing engagement.
