Commissioners begin annual budget process

The Vernon County Commissioners have started the budget process for 2009. They have held meetings with several county officials including Tammy Bond, Public Administrator; Cherie Roberts, Assessor; Phil Couch, Treasurer; and Dennis Kimrey, Emergency Management.

Southern Commissioner Kennon Shaw said that the officials he's talked to are all cognizant of the financial problems faced by the county and the necessity for restraint. Shaw said the officials all came in prepared with figures that reflected the downturn in the economy.

"They were all well-prepared," Shaw said. "They had already figured out what they could cut and what was a real necessity for them."

The commissioners are constrained in how much they can cut from certain budgets because of mandated projects. They also have to work with estimates of funds, estimates that may be significantly off because of events beyond their control.

The county has faced the problem of reduced revenues several times recently. The commission under former presiding commissioner, Chalie Johnson, faced the same problem in 2003 and more recently the commission under David Darnold faced the same problem in 2006. At that time, Darnold said one of the problems was the time periods covered by budgets, the county budget runs on a calendar year and the state budget runs on a fiscal year beginning in July. Coordinating the two was problematic he said.

One of the contributing factors to the tight budget is the necessity to maintain the county's bridges. The county is responsible for maintaining the bridges in Vernon County and there are a lot of them. There are over 250 bridges longer than 20 feet on the inventory and probably that many, or more, that aren't that long.

The budget process will continue through the month of January with a tentative budget in place 10 days before the end of the month for public view and comment before its adoption at the end of January.

Commissioners need to have the budget prepared by that time or the county's employees, including they themselves, won't get paid at the end of January.