| 1-11-2011 County Judge Article
The 2011 Budget Challenge As we begin the new year, it’s time to implement the new county budget that was set for 2011 by the outgoing Commissioner’s Court. As county judge I am designated by the Texas Local Government Code to be the budget officer for the commissioner’s court of the county, and as such I will do my best to see that we properly implement that budget and stay in compliance with the laws that govern that process. In the interest of transparency, as I educate myself in how to do this, I will attempt to pass along some of what I am learning to you the citizens of Milam County. First of all, the Texas Local Government Code clearly states that we the Commissioner’s Court “may spend funds only in strict compliance with the budget, except in an emergency.” An emergency is defined as “a grave public necessity to meet an unusual and unforeseen condition that could not have been included in the original budget through the use of reasonably diligent thought and attention.” We may “amend the budget to transfer an amount budgeted from one item to another budgeted item without authorizing an emergency expenditure.” That’s the law. Pretty clear cut, don’t you think? Not much wiggle room. In fact, the law states that “any officer, employee, or official of a county government who refuses to comply with this subchapter commits an offense” punishable by a fine of from $100 to $1,000 and from 1 month to 1 year in county jail. So much for the challenge of complying with the law, what about the challenge of implementing the new budget? To answer this, first I need to review 2010 results with you for a minute. The county budget is basically split into two parts, (1) the General Fund, and (2) Road and Bridge (i.e. the four precincts). (All numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred thousand in this article.) In 2010, the General Fund Budget was set at $10.4 million, $9.8 million was spent. You might say great! We spent $600,000 under budget. In fact, of the 40 departments/accounts that make up the General Fund, none were out of line on spending vs. budget, those that were over were properly adjusted, and a number of departments were significantly under budget. The problem is that the county had revenues of only $9.1 million, $700,000 below actual expenditures. This deficit had to be paid out of General Fund Reserves, the result: the Reserve Account has been drawn down from $1.1 million at the start of 2010 to approximately $300,000 to begin 2011. This is dangerously low! The $1.3 million short fall in revenue in 2010 was a result of less revenue than expected from fees, fines, and other revenues, not from underestimated tax revenues. Now lets talk about the General Fund Budget which has been set at $10.6 million in 2011. The $6.2 million in estimated ad valorem tax revenue that is budgeted is a good number and another $1 million can be expected from sales tax. But in 2010 only $1.9 million in revenue was generated by fines, fees and other sources; therefore the $3.4 million in revenue that is budgeted to be generated from fees, fines, and other sources in 2011 is going to be unachievable, in my opinion. And remember, only $300,000 is left in reserves, so we do not have a Reserve Account to bail us out like we had in 2010. So, the new Commissioner’s Court has been presented literally with a million and a half dollar challenge for 2011. This is a challenge, not a crisis, we simply need to recognize the situation we’re facing early on and take necessary action. As I’ve made the rounds meeting the folks that make up our county government, I’m convinced of one thing, we’ve got good capable people in the 30 or so departments involved. Working together, we’ll get the job done for the citizens of Milam County. This analysis is based on financial data provided to me by our county auditor. As I gain a better understanding of the situation, get additional data, and/or my interpretation of the county’s financial status should be enhanced, modified, or completed changed for that matter, I will not hesitate to report to you. Next week my plan is to review the budgets for the four Road and Bridge Accounts. |
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