People, services are on chopping block

Cutting the fat won’t be enough to solve Jay County’s budget woes.
That’s what a page-by-page overlook by the Jay County Budget Committee showed Monday.
“We’ve turned every stone over a little bit and we’re getting down to what is going to be really, really tough. The elimination of services or the elimination of people or you tell me what else. I’m not seeing a surplus here,” financial consultant Greg Guerrettaz told committee members Faron Parr, Doug Inman, Jeanne Houchins, Bob Vance, Ted Champ, Dan Watson and Anna Culy.
The committee spent the first half of its three-hour meeting mostly going page by page through its general fund, looking at each of its separate funds for areas where it could cut expenditures for 2017.
Currently, the end balance for 2017 is estimated at $410,478.28, which falls $337,461.28 short of a desired 10 percent minimum balance. The review showed that most offices are spending at their maximum, with increases mostly coming from yearly wage hikes or capital outlays.
The greatest cuts would likely come from the Jay County Commissioners’ budget. Inman said his own review of the budget found about $100,000 he believes could be cut. Those cuts would include slashes in computer maintenance, contractual services and travel.
There are plans to free up the county’s Cumulative Capital Development Fund and change its ordinance to allow it to suck up more capital expenses, but those cuts wouldn’t come close to bringing the general fund to the $747.939.10 needed for its desired minimum balance.
Other brainstorming ideas including whether part-time employee wages should be lowered or altered and about the use of county offices and buildings.
When reviewing Jay/Portland Building and Planning’s budget, Champ raised questions about money it spends for rent.
Currently, $3,900 is being appropriated yearly to house the two-person office at Community Resource Center, which members said is owned by the City of Portland.
Champ said the county should look into whether it could be moved to county property.
Champ also brought up whether employee benefits could be reduced, specifically vacation, sick and personal days.
“This is not popular, what we are saying here, it’s not. The county employees get pretty good stipends. You get a sick day for every month, for every month you work, you get a sick day,” he said. “I think these are the issues we should be studying also instead of just are we overstaffed.”
As he has stated in previous meeting, Guerrettaz said during Monday’s review shows challenges ahead.
“Here, here and where you go, it’s not working on the general fund,” he said. “We’ve got a couple hard decisions.”
As in previous meetings, discussion turned to Jay Emergency Medical Service (JEMS).
“Is there anyway we can look at the service provided to the county tax payers but at something that is not dragging down the limited tax dollars we have?” Guerrettaz asked.
JEMS was $146,817 in the red in 2015, and projects to be $123,891 in the red this year. It has been helped via the rainy day fund ($300,000 in 2010, $400,000 in 2014 and $44,098 annually for a paramedic salary and benefits since February 2014).
Parr said its time “to think out side the box and explore all options,” and brought up seeing if the service can be sold or subsidized. He said the county will reach out to Jay County Hospital to see if they’d be interested paying some to fill the budget gaps or in either managing it or buying it outright.
“I think it’s an asset to the hospital. To me, the hospital should have something like that or contribute to help because I think they’re the number one benefactor, or benefiting more than anybody,” he said, adding the possibility of reaching out to Lutheran Medical Group if the hospital isn’t interested.
If neither party is interested Parr said the county will have to reassess.
“It’s not like it’s a service we don’t want. It’s a matter of how we are going to fund it,” he said.
The efficiency of the service was also brought up. Currently, the JEMS overtime budget is almost 20 percent of its total salary budget for its 2017 projection. Guerrettaz mentioned that an outside consultant could be brought in to review the intricacies of the operation and said the county should look into requests for proposals for third-party billing, an option that was discussed at the committee’s June meeting.
Another major fund discussed Monday was the County Economic Development Income Tax (CEDIT), with questions about whether yearly allotments to Jay County Development Corporation (JCDC) could be reduced.
JCDC has received $216,410 from the county annually since 2012. It is currently estimated to receive $222,892 in 2017.
Inman wondered whether the county is really seeing a return on its money, noting that much of the development falls within the Portland city limits.
“I think we’re subsidizing what’s going on in Portland,” Inman said, with Guerrattaz sharing similar sentiments.
JCDC receives about 75 percent of its funding from the county. Its executive director, Bill Bradley, said about $90,000 of funds it receives go to community development, with the remaining $126,000 going to traditional economic development.
Inman hypothetically asked Bradley what would happen if JCDC was budgeted just $150,000 for 2017. He responded by saying the corporation can make some cuts, but he’d have to advise his board of directors to get a better handle.
“The only things the board could do if you cut it, is go back to the municipalities and say can you ante up. On paper that makes a lot of sense. I don’t know in reality if you can get it or not,” said Chuck Huffman, a JCDC board member in attendance. “It goes back to the original thought, are you going to jeopardize the county’s economic development efforts because you’re trying to figure out who should pay the lion’s share of it?”
The committee will meet next at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 1.