Tight $$, tax hikes may loom

An increase in the county's Local Option Income Tax and hikes in other services fees were highlighted as must-dos for the Jay County Council as it looks toward skinny budgets in the future.

Financial consultant Greg Guerrettaz spoke with the council for about an hour Wednesday, giving an update on his draft sustainability report for the county's funds, adding suggestions to increase revenue and reporting on findings from the county's budget committee collected after meetings with department heads.

The budget committee, comprised of Guerrrettaz, council members Marilyn Coleman and Dan Orr, and Jay County Commissioner Faron Parr, met with department heads to try to find places to shave an additional 10 percent from this year's budget for 2011.

"Overall we did not get a 10 percent cut," Coleman said. "We got maybe a five, six percent cut."

"We got a lot of good dialogue in all the departments," Guerrettaz said of the meetings. "They did take on good stakeholder attitudes."

Guerrettaz noted that one thing the council will have to evaluate is its "definition of what your essential services are."

For example, Guerrettaz highlighted Jay Emergency Medical Service as a "Triple-A rated ambulance service" compared to other counties, but one that is in financial straits and will either need to be pared back or increase its revenue. The Jay County Retirement Home was also noted by Guerrettaz as one place to the council to review.

With proposed cuts talked about during department head meetings, Guerrettaz said the county has cut down its general fund to about $6.193 million. However, even with the cuts, he recommended an increase in the county's Local Option Income Tax (LOIT) "right away."

"The increase in LOIT is going to be a must," he said.

He suggested raises in both the county's general LOIT rate to bring in more revenue for the general fund as well as an increase in the LOIT public safety rate to help defray additional costs associated with operation of the Jay County Jail expansion.

Guerrettaz also noted that the council should establish a binder with an inventory of fees each department charges so that those fees could be in one easily accessible place and could be reviewed each year.

"I think it's a valuable thing to keep in the auditor's office," he said.

Guerrettaz then worked through the county's departments, informing the council of some places each department head identified as places for savings or avenues toward increasing revenue.

JEMS was one department of note, as it has been operating in the red for the last two years. The Jay County Commissioners spoke Monday about taking steps to try to right JEMS by July and were waiting for Guerrettaz's input.

"We are insisting immediately the increase of the mileage (fee)," Guerrettaz said, suggesting a $12 per mile fee for travel to the hospital. Most area ambulance services charge around $14 per mile.

Billing is also an area JEMS has fallen behind on and even with help from a part-time employee since February, the department is still not current in sending out bills and barely making ground.

"That is going to be a two person, full-time job," Guerrettaz said, suggesting hiring another full-time billing clerk. "It's probably beyond one person."

In the commissioners' budget, Guerrettaz noted the county's "donations" - money given as operating support to local non-tax entities such as Arts Place and the John Jay Center for Learning - as a definite area to trim.

The council and commissioners were asked to evaluate where that money goes. The commissioners, in past meetings, have identified some services such as the van transport service offered by LifeStream and education provided by JJCL as groups that still might warrant funding, although at a reduced rate.

Other items of note included paying the probation office's secretary's salary out of probation user fees as opposed to the general fund, using the cumulative capital development fund for equipment purchases, ceasing free copying in the clerk's office for some attorneys, and raising 911 fees for landline phones to the maximum to augment funds available for 911 service and potentially dispatcher salaries.

Guerrettaz also advised the council to pull the purse strings tight on its rainy day fund and use it only as a last resort. He warned the council to try to avoid getting bogged down in supplementing operating costs out of rainy, such as the council did as an emergency measure with JEMS earlier this year when its fund ran dry prior to the summer tax draw.

"That should be your last bottom dollar, that rainy day fund," he said.

Guerrettaz said presented council members with the most recent sustainability report for the county's funds and informed them that the budget committee will continue to meet with some departments and keep brainstorming ways to pinch pennies and increase revenues.

"I think we've got some challenges among us," he said.[[In-content Ad]]