Grant County working to finalize preliminary '05 budget

EPHRATA — The Grant County Commissioners started a series of meetings with county departments Wednesday, in an effort to nail down a final number for how much money Grant County employees will be able to work with next year.

The commissioners asked county departments this past summer to submit proposals for their 2005 budget, with many departments asked to make cuts of either four or seven percent. Most of the seven percent cuts were asked of departments in criminal and justice departments.

There are some exceptions to the proposed cuts. The Grant County Coroner's office is looking at a possible one percent cut for example and the Grant County Museum is currently scheduled to no change in its budget.

The commissioners have since seen a proposed revenue jump of approximately $750,000 from what was forecasted in July, and the commissioners have asked each department to prioritize items they have already cut. The commissioner said they are asking departments what they would like to do if extra money is available for them to add back into their 2005 budget.

"We're not asking them for further cuts," Commissioner LeRoy Allison said about this month's meetings. "We're asking them for their first priorities to add back."

The current county numbers are also the result of proposals that have the county reducing staff by another six full-time employees in 2005. The county has lost about a dozen employees since that freeze was implemented this spring. Allison said the county will have saved about $245,000 as a result of that hiring freeze by the end of the year.

Commissioner Tim Snead said the three-member board of commissioners will first look at departments impacted by the hiring freeze to determine who will get more funding if it is available.

"They've already taken the burden," Snead said.

Under the current proposals county expenditures for 2005 are $21,270,763, with a preliminary revenue of 21,744,000.

Grant County also has approximately $3 million in unallocated reserve funds. Allison said the county is about two thirds of the way to where it needs to be to have about $4.5 to $5 million to operate the county for three months.

"This is all preliminary right now," Commissioner Deborah Moore stressed, saying that the numbers will change between now and when the budget is adopted later this month.

This preliminary budget also does not include any funds for extraordinary murder cases. The commissioners have tapped their entire reserve of law and justice funds, using $1.25 million to balance the budget in 2004, with an additional $250,000 used for county indigent defense costs. The commissioners called on area state legislators last month to put their muscle behind the commissioner's effort to be reimbursed for approximately $325,000 in 2004 funds for the murder trials of two boys who have been accused of killing another boy in 2003.

Jake Eakin and Evan Savoie are being charged in the murder of 13-year-old Craig Sorger in February of 2003. The two were 12 years old at the time of the crime, and are accused of beating and stabbing Sorger to death in Oasis Park in Ephrata.

The commissioners will continue to hold meetings with departments through the middle of December, before adopting a final budget by the end of the year.