One county commissioner says the numbers do not add up. Ben Konop says cutting 20 percent over two years is not necessary. He says Lucas County has hundreds of millions of dollars in reserves it can tap into.
The county administrator says that is not true.
First, the budget cuts: Lucas County needs to cut another 10.5 percent, or roughly $9 million, from its budget in 2011. The reason is simple. Lucas County administrator Peter Uvagi says, "The income under the general fund has significantly declined."
The general fund collects money through the sales tax, revenue sharing from the state, investment income, and fees and fines imposed by the courts.
Right now, revenue is down. Uvagi says, "If the income is not coming in, you've got to adjust your budget. That's what we're doing."
This means most county departments face another round of cuts, like the prosecutor's office, which already laid off seven lawyers. More could be ahead.
County prosecutor Julia Bates says, "It's a challenge to give the service that citizens demand, expect, ought to have, and to do more with less."
Commissioner Ben Konop says another 10 percent cut is not necessary, saying, "It's certainly unjustified from the numbers I've reviewed."
He's talking about at least $150 million in reserve funds sitting in various department and agency accounts.
For instance, in the county recorder's office alone, the $1 million reserve account is more than the department's budget of $757,000. Konop insists that's taxpayer money that should be used to balance a budget. "They're building reserves rather than lowering taxes or providing new services."
But not all of that money is under the commissioners' control. Some of it is levy money dedicated for certain spending and those reserves will not last.
Uvagi says there's really only about $7.5 million in reserves the county could tap. They don't want to do that, fearing that could be money they will need next year.
The sheriff's office says they will not have cut another 10 percent because they've already negotiated those cuts into new contracts.
