Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget Overview topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Natrona County commissioners say budget requests exceed revenues by about $5 million; instruct staff to find cuts
Summary
At a June 17 special budget session commissioners reviewed department requests and identified roughly $5 million in excess spending against estimated revenues, asking staff to prioritize cuts and preserve core services such as juvenile services and public safety.
Natrona County commissioners on June 17 recessed a wide-ranging budget work session after staff reported that department requests outstrip the county’s revenue estimate by roughly $5 million. Chairman Nicholas and other commissioners instructed county staff to identify targeted reductions and prioritize essential services.
The clerk presented updated revenue and expenditure figures, and commissioners settled on a working general-fund revenue estimate of $52,755,821. With total requests earlier in the meeting calculated at about $57.9 million, commissioners said significant trims are necessary. "We are going to have to tighten our belts in a lot of respects," one commissioner said, urging the board to lead by example.
Commissioners outlined a department-by-department approach rather than a flat percentage cut. Examples discussed included deferring hiring in the assessor’s office for one year (saving about $110,000), trimming travel budgets across several departments, and re-evaluating large capital or discretionary items. For some reimbursement-based grants and projects, staff noted those items do not affect general-fund totals unless carryovers or local matching are required.
The board also agreed to preserve funding for selected front-line programs where commissioners judged the county receives commensurate benefit: children's advocacy ($45,000 request), the youth crisis center and certain law-enforcement functions were highlighted as priorities where cuts should be avoided or minimized.
Next steps: commissioners asked the clerk and department heads to return recommended line-by-line reductions at the next meeting and directed staff to follow up on a set of flagged items (FEMA reimbursements, tribal-consistency grant accounting and Joint Powers allocations) that may reduce net general-fund exposure.
