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Commission discusses FY2016 budget

by

Erica Techo

The Shelby County Commission held a work session to discuss the budget for fiscal year 2016.

No action was taken on the budget, but the commission reviewed requests from the Sheriff’s Office and highway department.

If current costs and expenditures hold, County Manager Alex Dudchock said the Sheriff’s Office will be over budget by around $316,000 by the end of the fiscal year. The Sheriff was not in office during the whole fiscal year, and Dudchock said he is taking steps – such as not filling vacancies – in order to combat the budget shortfall.

“He will be practicing due diligence in 2016 and moving forward,” Dudchock said.

The deficit can be covered by crude savings in county operating budgets, Dudchock said. He recommended the commission make an amendment to allow that coverage. Commission Chairman Rick Shepherd said to help keep an eye on budget shortfalls in the future, Sheriff John Samaniego will attend meetings to update the commission.

“The Sheriff has agreed to come on the agenda once a quarter to update where the budget is,” Shepherd said.

Later in the work session, the commission discussed the Sheriff’s proposal for fiscal year 2016. Shepherd said the commission will split the cost of new vehicles.

“We were partnering on the cars, so we’ve agreed to partner 50-50 on the new cars – 15 new Tahoes,” Shepherd said.

County Engineer Randy Cole said there is a need to rebuild the bridge inspection truck, which allows workers to go under bridges. The truck is 20 years old, and it will cost up to $300,000 to rebuild. Buying a new truck, however, would cost around $700,000.

“We’re mandated by the federal highway administration to do those inspections, so we’re going to see if we can’t use federal funds for the 80 percent,” Cole said.

Cole requested a total of $9.3 million for funding.

The commission also discussed the benefit of the gasoline tax fund. The projected grand total for that fund is $10.9 million, of which Cole said some will carry over.

“That’s for our day-to-day operations. Now there will be, just by the nature of how we do budgeting, we won’t spend $10.975 million. We’ll have a little bit to carry over,” Cole said.

The amount to carry over will be small, Cole said, because the highway department will also consider what purchases and projects it can fund rather than pass along to the next fiscal year.

Dudchock said the county’s management of the gasoline tax fund helps it implement several projects. The reserve helps manage these projects and benefit the whole county, he said.

“The best thing about all of this is, the manner by which you have been budgeting has allowed him [Cole] a very healthy gasoline, highway-specific fund reserve. He’s sitting ready to implement a bunch of projects,” Dudchock said.

Shepherd said the budget will be an agenda item at the commission's next meeting.

Also at the meeting, the Commission:

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