The Marshall County Council worked to balance the 2017 budget on Monday, but it took a few breaks to accomplish the task.
Budget proposals were collected from the department heads earlier this year, but under state statute local units of government are required to balance their financial picture. The Marshall County Council went down their individual lists, making initial cuts to the County Commissioner’s budget insurance line items.
Council President Judi Stone says she’s thinking down the line.
“It’s my hope that at the end of the year we can put money into the Rainy Day out of the general fund and use that as a match for the highway for next year,” says Stone. “That’s just my opinion.”
Marshall County started with proposed expenditures above $13-million in the general fund, but found itself cutting more than $1-million to ultimately balance the budget document.
Members of the council also mulled reducing wage increases in 2017 to aid in their reduction efforts. Ultimately, several newly proposed positions were cut from the budget requests.
The council also removed the proposed purchase of new vehicles out of the sheriff’s department budget. Hassel says cited the mileage of the current vehicle fleet and the department’s goal of replacing three vehicles every year.
“Mainly the mileage,” says Hassel. “Our fleet is getting us to the point where we have a lot of vehicles that at 100 to 150-thousand miles plus that are being used and to keep up with the number of vehicles, making sure that we have quality vehicles, we really need to get four this year.”
Following a comprehensive run-through of the budget, the council found themselves with an additional $250-thousand to cut.
It took a break and a bit of consideration to complete the document on Monday at just over $12-million in the county general fund. It has been advertised to ensure proper compliance with state law and is likely to be adopted later this year.
