Council hears warnings about fund-balance shortfalls for Plan Commission, CCD and other funds

Scott, the county’s budget staff, presented a fund-by-fund projection showing current cash and investments and the effect of department budget requests, and he identified several funds at risk. "If you were approved [the Plan Commission] budget request of $537,000, more than double the revenue, that fund will not be sustainable beyond another year," Scott said, highlighting the Plan Commission and CCD as funds where requested spending significantly exceeds projected revenue. Scott also singled out a small fund he described as an "airplane" or airport-related fund with a June 30 cash balance just under $2,000 and annual revenues in the first six months of the year of about $5,000; if the fund’s $25,000 budget request were approved without offsetting revenue, the fund would drop into a negative balance. The emergency telephone (911) fund, Scott said, still projects about $1 million but has been running an approximate $200,000 annual deficit between spending and revenue and therefore needs monitoring. He urged the council to weigh use of fund balances versus sustained revenue when deciding whether to grant department requests unchanged. Council members asked for clarification on a number of line items and for staff to gather missing grant or revenue numbers before final appropriation. Scott said missing revenue lines are usually items for which staff is awaiting grant confirmations or late state reports and that those items would be updated as the October adoption approaches.