County council can't afford to wait

Here we go again.
At its meeting Wednesday, Jay County Council set itself up for trouble.
Council members had agreed a month ago that as part of the budget process there is a need to meet with department heads about their spending requests either individually, in front of the entire council or both. At that time, they discussed inviting department heads to their July meeting for that purpose.
Then, on Wednesday, they set their budget review meetings — for Sept. 6 and 7.
Let us rewind to a year ago …
•On Sept. 9, county council learned its budget needed to be cut by about $631,000 in order to gain approval from Indiana Department of Local Government Finance. Council at that time decided to freeze wages and asked department heads to find a way to cut 7 to 10 percent from their 2016 budgets.
•By the following week, some departments had made cuts — totaling about $190,000 — while others said they could not operate on any amount less than they had requested. Rather than pushing department heads to make more cuts, or making cuts themselves, council voted to use $500,000 from the rainy day fund to cover the difference. At the time, council member Gary Theurer noted that the rainy day fund is supposed to be for emergencies rather than budget-balancing purposes.
•Council member Ted Champ, who had been absent from the previous meeting, questioned the wisdom of taking the half million dollars from the rainy day fund. But by that point, Sept. 23, council was up against the deadline to send the budget to the DLGF for its approval. It voted 4-2, with Champ and Jeanne Houchins dissenting, to approve the budget.
So, after finding itself backed into a corner on budget issues a year ago, council has decided to move up that first meeting, by a few days.
This is just asking for trouble.
Yes, there are reasons parts of the budget process must wait until September. The auditor won’t know until then exactly where the DLGF will set the county’s maximum levy, and thus how much spending council can afford to approve.
But that doesn’t mean council shouldn’t have as much information as possible prior to getting to that point.
Council members should go back to the idea they floated last month and ask department heads to present their budget requests in the second half of July. That would let the group know what the requested spending is for 2017 and allow them to answer some key questions:
•If the maximum levy is the same for 2017 as it was for 2016, would cuts be necessary? If so, where would we make them?
•What if the DLGF reduces the maximum levy drops again? How would we balance the budget?
•What if the maximum levy goes up? Could we afford raises? If so, how large?
Receiving budget requests from department heads and asking questions about them in July would give council time to think about and form plans for each of these situations. It would allow time for discussion at its regular August meeting and the opportunity to schedule a second August meeting if necessary.
In short, it would allow council to be prepared.
Letting these meetings to wait until the first week of September leaves the danger of the county being back in the same situation it was in 2015. With deadlines looming, council members were left with a decision — make cuts across the board to balance the budget or take money from the rainy day fund to balance.
No one wants to choose either of those options.
Council was in a bind last year.
It cannot afford to let that happen a second time. — R.C.