Squeezing pennies makes sense

With all of clamor about deficit spending that’s going on in the nation’s capital, the Obama administration could learn something if they would follow the example of the Morgan County Commission.

Faced with a $2 million year-to-year revenue shortfall when they began their annual budget review process three months ago. Chairman Ray Long and district commissioners reached the logical decision that they were going to have to lower spending by that amount in order to have a realistic, balanced budget in fiscal 2011-2012.

Right off the bat, they challenged department heads to find ways to reduce their respective budgets by 10 percent, an amount needed to enable them to find a way to operate the county with $2 million less than what had been budgeted in the prior year.

It was apparent that some departments would be hard pressed to meet that goal without affecting personnel. Thus, an offer was made to allow employees to opt for a 35-hour workweek without benefits being affected.

While a few bought into the option, other steps were needed. Subsequently, the maintenance department dropped two positions, the commission office opted not to fill a vacant position. A courthouse dispatch operator’s job was eliminated effective Jan. 1, 2012, and the license department opted to put its employees on a 37.5 hour week. In addition, appropriations to non-profit organizations were reduced by approximately $175,000.

In the words of Long, “Our goal from the start was to put together a realistic, balanced budget and have a balance at the end of the year. By cutting $1.75 million, we’ve been able to do that and we haven’t eliminated any county services.”

It should also be noted that the commission has remained consistent with its pledge to promote business, industry and job growth. Appropriations for job-producing organizations like the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce and Morgan County Industrial Development Association have not been cut.

Hats off to the commissioners for keeping expenditures in balance with revenues during difficult economic times.