Hold the line at current expense levels was the counsel Tooele County Commissioners received from their new budget advisory board at this week’s commission meeting.
“The dust has not settled on the 2013 budget and the effectiveness of the cuts that were made,” said Larry Shumway Tuesday night, chairman of the nine member budget advisory board. “It was our opinion as a board that to raise expenses at this time would be unwise.”
The board recommended that all county departments operate during the 2014 fiscal year at the same revised budget levels adopted by the commissioners at their July 2013 meeting.
In October, commissioners heard requests from department heads that exceeded the 2013 funding level by $3.5 million.
“While revenues are gradually increasing, they have not increased to the level to return to the expenditure levels proposed by departments,” said Shumway.
Along with holding the line on expenses, the board gave seven other recommendations in the three weeks that it had to review the 2014 tentative budget.
“Due to the constraints of statutory budget deadlines, the recommendations we made are somewhat general,” Shumway said.
The board advised commissioners to strengthen policies and procedures to ensure adherence to the 2013 mid-year budget adjustments, including accountability for failure for departments to adhere to the adopted budget.
“Our cursory review lead us to believe that it is possible for not all county departments to adhere to the budget that the commission established,” added Shumway.
The board suggested two cost savings measures for 2014. The first is to combine contracts for like services, currently handled by each department individually, to achieve savings.
The other is to terminate the county’s contract with Interwest Paper through either negotiated or unilateral means, resulting in an annual savings of $200,000.
In Oct. 2011 the county entered into an agreement with Interwest Paper to purchase a sorter/baler machine for the county’s solid waste facility.
The sorter/baler cost $770,332. The agreement called for monthly payments of $14,660 for five years, with credit for all proceeds from cardboard, newspaper, mixed paper, plastic and cans sent to Interwest Paper for recycling to be deducted from the monthly payments.
It was anticipated at the time that revenue from recycling would cover the cost of the sorter/baler, however that expectation has not been reached and the sorter/baler, including the cost of temporary personnel to operate it, averages $200,000 annually.
The committee also recommended that if additional reductions in the 2014 budget are necessary, commissioners should consider spreading payment for the $1 million South Mountain Road project and the $2 million scheduled for repayments, to restricted funds across multiple fiscal years.
Those two budget items add up to 20 percent of the revenue and restructuring their payment could be helpful if additional savings are needed, according to the board report.
Cuts in expenses were not the only suggestions on the board’s list.
“Achieving balance entirely through cuts would eliminate or reduce services to an unacceptable level,” reads the board’s report.
The board recommended the judicious application of both expenditure cuts and revenue increases, including the addition of a municipal services tax.
The state allows counties to levy a municipal services tax to help pay for road work, law enforcement, animal control, engineering and other city-related services the county provides in unincorporated areas.
The tentative 2014 budget includes $1.5 million in revenue from a new municipal services tax collected from property taxpayers in unincorporated Tooele County, or around an additional $62 per $150,000 of assessed value for residential property.
County commissioners were encouraged to complete the legal process to implement the municipal services tax by the board.
The board will continue to meet to help the commission adopt a budget development process that is based on best practices, clearly defined goals, and long range plans.
“We intend to suggest over the next several months of our group meeting steps that the commission might consider in improving the budget process,” said Shumway.