County juggle numbers to keep budget in line with state requirements

McCOOK, Nebraska -- It's a juggling act of plusses and minuses ... of increases and reductions. It's a complex game of strategy that challenges Red Willow County commissioners every summer, to write a new budget that pays for services to citizens without hurting their checkbooks too terribly.

And to make the county's 2013-14 proposed budget also meet restrictions from the state, Dan Miller, the county's budget assistant, still needs to fine-tune some numbers before the budget goes to the Nebraska Department of Revenue in September.

Commissioners set a hearing for Monday, Sept. 9, at 9:30 a.m., to adopt the new budget and set the final tax request. The hearing is open to the public; citizens are encouraged to attend.

Smith told commissioners during their meeting Monday morning that to meet some state restrictions, they still need to reduce expenditures or cut their tax request by about $250,000.

So, what Smith proposes to do to the preliminary budget is delete a transfer of $300,000 from the inheritance fund to the jail sinking fund and reduce the new jail equipment fund by $250,000; he will then add $50,000 to jail construction, making the jail sinking fund come out to $0.

Commissioners said the new jail, under construction now, most likely won't be ready for new equipment within this budget year, so maybe the equipment purchases can be delayed until the following year. They also suggested that sheriff's department and jail officials look at reusing as much equipment and office equipment as possible -- wherever security will not be affected, commissioner Steve Downer said.

Smith will then transfer $250,000 from inheritance to the general fund to lower the total tax request by that amount, thus reducing the tax levy by about 2 1/2 cents -- to just under 42 cents (rather than the 44 cents as the proposed budget indicates).

The proposed budget indicates that the total tax request -- before Smith's tweaking -- is estimated at $4,104,909, up $389,893 from the total tax request of $3,715,016 in 2012-2013.

The county's tax valuation for 2013-2014 -- certified to the state on Aug. 20 -- is $931,795,554, up $93,430,805 from the valuation of $838,364,751 in 2012-13.

The tax levy in 2012-13 was $0.443126. It is estimated at $.425 for 2013-14.