Golden – Half of Jefferson County’s estimated $12 million budget shortfall for 2008 could be erased if a laundry list of recommendations is implemented, a citizens panel has suggested.
After months of scouring the county’s finances, the 10- member committee has urged delaying several big-ticket capital projects, reconfiguring employee benefits and adjusting a few financial practices.
Commissioner Kathy Hartman said the panel’s recommendations, coupled with work by internal committees, has “helped to put us on the track where the cuts we will be making this year will mean that in future years, people can expect predictably moderate increases in the budget and we won’t have to do this again in two years.”
The Board of County Commissioners has initially agreed to most of the panel’s 27 recommendations. Last week, the board directed the county’s other elected officials and department heads to use the concepts in finding savings, boosting revenue and cutting costs.
County departments will see an average 3.5 percent reduction from what they received in 2007’s $341 million operating budget.
“We’ve taken a giant step, but there’s gonna be cuts,” Commissioner Kevin McCasky said.
The panel has suggested delay of construction of the $4.8 million sheriff’s mountain substation and a $3 million courtroom remodel; sale of land where the Table Mountain Animal Center is located for $3 million; and delay in implementing a market pay survey until January, a savings of $1.5 million.
Not recommended is a tax or mill levy hike. “Raising taxes in the short term will not solve the systemic day-to- day operational general fund budget problems of the county,” the report said.
“What I think the general theme of what the committee and the board is thinking is, ‘Let’s get a handle on this, align our revenues with expenses, tighten our belts and let’s get our operational budget in line before we consider going to the voters with any kind of debt financing,” McCasky said.
Before any major capital projects are done, “we will take it to the voters,” McCasky said.
In 2008, the debt on the county government facility will be paid off, freeing up $7.8 million annually for capital projects.
The panel will reconvene this fall to review courthouse and jail expansion costs, estimated at $40 million and $53.5 million, respectively.
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
