Holland

Butler County Controller Ben Holland says the proposed $150.7-million county budget for 2016 needs work.

“I don't think it's a sustainable budget,” Holland said.

The proposed budget, which was presented last week, has a $4.4 million deficit.

Holland said he would concentrate on the general fund — which is where the deficit is — because those are the funds that the county contributes to. The general fund has $61.7 in expenses and $62.4 million in revenues.

To cover the deficit for next year, the county plans a 3-mill property tax increase and plans to use $3.3 million in reserve funds.

A major concern of his is using the reserve funds.

In 2014, the county had $56.5 million in revenues but $57.9 million in expenses. The gap was filled with reserve funds. At the beginning of that year, the fund balance was about $6 million.

At the beginning of this year, the fund balance was $4.4 million, Holland said.

Last month, the county had $1.2 million left in those reserves. Holland said the county transferred that money to the general fund, leaving the county with $0 in the reserves.

With these finances, Holland said, “If Butler County was a publicly traded company, I'd be selling all my stocks.”

He said the only way the projected $3.3 million figure is possible is if the county uses the $1.2 million and more than $2 million from the general fund, which is roughly the amount of state gas impact fee money the county is using for certain general fund expenditures to the reserves for next year.

Commissioners Bill McCarrier, Dale Pinkerton and Jim Eckstein are leaving office at the end of the month. They will be replaced by Leslie Osche, Kim Geyer and Kevin Boozel, who take office in January.

All three incoming commissioners have said they plan to review the budget first thing.

Holland said he would recommend the new commissioners end the county's reliance on the fund balance.

“Come in here and cut the budget, and let your revenues balance your expenditures,” Holland said.

He said that individual department budgets are inflated compared to their actual expenses in recent past years. Holland said he would like to see a cap — such as 3 percent — on the amount a department's budget can grow each year.

Holland said he also would like to see the commissioners look at departments to see whether they are overstaffed or understaffed.

He noted there is a $900,000 line item in the 2016 budget for an unspecified contingency, which is up from $500,000 this year. He questioned the wisdom of increasing taxes while budgeting for such a large, unspecified fund.

“I don't think a 3-mill tax increase is justified, not when they have not made a solid effort to go through to refine the expenditures,” Holland said.

He said there still is some financial wiggle room. He said a new state law increasing the fees going to counties for 911 calls can create new revenues. The selling of Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in 2014 also freed up some budget space, he said.

“I think it's still manageable,” Holland said.

Chief clerk Amy Wilson, who prepared the budget, declined to comment.