Budget Reviews Focus On Reigning In Costs

By Gordon HopkinsJefferson County Commissioners met with department heads to begin work on budgets at a meeting on Tuesday, August 6, 2024. The common theme in every meeting was finding places to cut spending, or at least try not to increase spending.That includes cuts to the commissioners’ own budget. Commissioners are required to attend various conferences and training events and commissioner Gale Pohlmann proposed cutting lodging and other expenses. Commissioner Mark Schoenrock pointed out, “County board members pay a lot out of our own pocket when we go to attend county functions, which my we don’t put in for mileage. We pay for our own gas and we don’t put in for meals.”Salaries One area where cuts are off limits is salaries. Personnel, both salaries and benefits, make up the bulk of the county’s budget. Across the nation a worker shortage has necessitated increased salaries in both private and public sectors to attract and retain staff.There are also indirect impacts on county budgets caused by increased salaries.“So, if you look at the medical service contract,” said Jefferson County Sheriff Nick Georgi, discussing the contract for medical and mental health services provided to the jail. “Just the contract alone went up six percent, but then their nursing fee went up a lot. Nursing wages went up the last couple years. They had to adjust theirs.” The sheriff’s office is looking into an alternative service after the contract ends.LegislatureHanging over the proceedings was uncertainty about what the Nebraska Legislature will do. Currently, the legislature is in special session, debating how to make Governor Jim Pillen’s goal of lower property taxes a reality. Among the more controversial elements of Governor Jim Pillen’s proposal to reduce property taxes is a hard cap on local government’s ability to raise revenue through the tax levy.While the Nebraska Association of County Officials (NACO) has repeatedly voiced support for the governor’s desire to lower property taxes, the organization is opposed to the proposed cap and issued a statement to that effect Monday, August 12, “However, the NACO Board of Directors expresses concern over any reductions in revenue that could hinder counties’ ability to deliver essential mandated services. Specifically, NACO opposes a property tax asking cap set at 0% or the Consumer Price Index (CPI), plus growth, as it restricts counties from raising the necessary revenues to administer county government. Without clearly defined exceptions to this cap, counties would face severe limitations in fulfilling their obligations, especially in maintaining vital infrastructure and services during recessionary periods. NACO advocates for the use of an inflation change indicator more appropriate than the CPI to better reflect the actual costs counties incur.”The statement also said, “NACO firmly opposes any legislative actions that would result in a loss of local control, such as transferring clerks of the district court to the judicial branch or removing budgetary control from local school systems.” Public SafetyAt a press conference held Monday afternoon, August 5, 2024, Pillen announced that the hard cap proposed would not apply to emergency and public safety services, such as law enforcement and ambulance services.Lieutenant Governor Joe Kelly was also on hand and he explained why public safety should be exempt, “You can’t predict and budget a summer of riots. You can’t predict and budget a triple homicide in a small jurisdiction. So, the issue that we heard loud and strong was, we don’t want to be bound by a lid that keeps us from keeping the people safe.”Jefferson County Commissioners viewed this development as both good news and bad news. Commissioner Schoenrock said, “They’re cherry picking certain parts of the overall bill to try and get people on board. So, now they’re going to have Nebraska Law Enforcement, obviously, online with that, since the cap’s not going to apply to public safety. Which, I’m fine with because that’s one of the areas that we’ve been harping on with NACO, that we do not want a zero percent cap. So, that was a very positive development yesterday. The negative side of it is, they’re probably going to have enough votes now that the zero percent cap for the rest of us is probably going to be there.” Cash Flow ProblemsCommissioners have been working for years to find funding for two major road projects, Endicott Clay Road and PWF (Pawnee City, Wymore, Fairbury) Road. The funding is now in place, so those projects are moving forward. While the bulk of the funding for those projects is coming from grants, it can still create a cash flow headache for the county. That is because these are reimbursement-based grants, meaning the county will have to pay cost up front and then wait for reimbursement from the federal government. Public InputCommissioners expressed frustration that almost no members of the public attended the budget review meetings. Schoenrock said, “My only disappointment, look how many members of the public are here in this budget hearing.Schoenrock said, “This is where people need to be if they’re complaining about their taxes. This is where you tax money goes.”

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