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Budget Allocations Force Tough Decisions
Posted 10-20-1998
As we head into the final quarter of 1998 many critical issues face Westmoreland County
government, and none is more important than the development of our 1999 budget. I have
shared with you in previous articles that while on paper we have a balanced budget, we
really are taking in about $6 million less than we are spending. This year and next, we
have fund balances that will allow us to balance the budget. But after 1999, things do not
bode well for county government.
The problem is heightened by many other
factors, such as upcoming contract negotiations with our largest union, increased budget
requests from Westmoreland County Community College (we serve as the local sponsor),
requests from the Farmland Preservation Program, and the Westmoreland County Federation of
Libraries. We also help fund the Westmoreland Conservation District, the Agricultural
Extension, the Westmoreland County Transit Authority, and the many traditional county
programs.
We do not provide much funding for the
libraries, only about $55,000 per year. They certainly need assistance, but our role as
local sponsor for the Community College ($4.5 million) severely limits our ability to help
the libraries. The Farmland Preservation Program also was disappointed that we
appropriated $25,000 less than they requested. We did the same with the Conservation
District, and must try to balance the requests that are truly important with the limited
availability of funding.
The most difficult aspect of developing any
government's budget is saying "NO". Believe me, it is much easier to say
"yes" to everyone because they like you when you say "yes". Frankly,
that is what has happened in county government for too many years. That is part of the
reason we are in the predicament of spending millions more than we take in. In fact, I do
not think prior Boards of Commissioners scrutinized the budget all too closely. On each
budget I have voted on, I have gone through it line by line to understand where we are
spending your money and where we can make sensible cuts.
The challenge in developing government
budgets is that each interest group believes their requests are valuable and want them
fulfilled. They don't really care about any other group's request, and collectively,
requests outnumber available funding. Many requests have merit, and most groups have very
few options to turn to for funding. I do not think people understand the status of our
county budget, and the fact that we only take in about 25% of our budget from county
property taxes. Most of the other revenue comes from the state or federal government and
is already earmarked for a specific program. We do not have a lot of discretionary funding
that we can spread around.
The 1999 budget will be critical, as we
must become more disciplined in how we allocate our limited resources. While we must be
sensitive to all the valuable programs that request our support, and must negotiate a
contract that treats our employees fairly, we also have an obligation to keep taxes as low
as possible. The decisions we make this year will have a profound effect on the decisions
future Boards of Commissioners make, and we don't want to create a scenario that will
force drastic action in the future. |
