Adams County faces budget deficit

ADAMS COUNTY - The Adams County commissioners are looking for a solution to a projected $875,000 deficit next year.

The drop in revenue represents 11.6 percent of the county's $7.5 million budget. State law requires the county to balance its budget every year.

The county could use their cash carryover to cover the costs, but it would leave the county with less than $500,000, which Commissioner Rudy Plager said would leave the county without money to pay bills.

"Obviously if you look at our reserve and cash carryover, we could get through 2009 and most of 2010 and not make any changes," Plager said. "But our cash carryover would be depleted and we'd have to beg to the state (for money.)"

The county blames the revenue decrease on four reasons:

• A decrease in the amount of money they receive from interest on their investments

• Fewer traffic tickets

• The 1 percent property tax cap

• The inability to shift extra money from roads into their general fund

"It was a whole bunch of little things that all came together at once and kind of got us at once," Commissioner Jeffrey Stevens said. "We anticipated a few of these things. We run a pretty conservative county when it comes to that."

The loss of interest from investments and fewer traffic tickets seem to be tied to the country's current economic situation, Stevens said. The county invests money from grants and their reserve into a state fund and can use the interest they earn on other projects.

"Nationally the interest rates have been low," he said. "(The interest) can be a considerable amount of money."

People may be driving slower to conserve gas, Stevens said. The Washington State Patrol sends the cases for speeding tickets to Adams County District Court.

"We've seen a flattening on the amount of traffic violations," Plager said. "I don't believe it has anything to do with (fewer) state patrol officers."

The 1 percent property tax cap, which the Washington state Legislature put into place in 2007, has hurt every county, Stevens said. The cap doesn't allow the counties to keep pace with rising costs.

"I've talked to nine different counties in the area," Stevens said. "They're all saying the same thing. It's proving to be a really rough budget year."

The final reason was the fact the county can't shift unused money from road levies into its general fund.

The county is hoping to recover about $300,000 to $400,000 through two sales tax increases set on November's ballot for voter approval.

One tax increase would provide money for emergency communications and the other would go to juvenile detention costs. Together they would raise sales tax in the county from 7.6 percent to 7.8 percent. The increase would mean two cents more for every $10 spent on a purchase.

The county is also looking at hiring a private contractor to staff their Department of Licensing offices, Plager said. The county pays about $100,000 to staff the offices, and receives about $100,000 in revenue from the offices.

The loss of revenue also may lead to layoffs. Plager and Stevens said it wasn't something they wanted to do, but 80 percent of their budget is personnel. The county stopped hiring new employees.

"We're hoping that we'll be able (to make the cuts) without having to affect people directly," Stevens said. "We're very concerned about people and families."