The Manchester Enterprise
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
County budget blasted
Council sounds off on County Commission spending habits
By Edward Freundl, Heritage Newspapers
PUBLISHED: March 8, 2007
Two county commissioners faced stiff questioning from Manchester Village Council members Monday about the county's budget priorities.
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Mark Ouimet, R-District 1; and Jessica Ping Mills, D-District 3, drew a gloomy picture of what the county faces by the time the 2008-09 budget year goes into effect, and village officials were eager to share their frustrations over continuing cuts in services.
"Like the rest of us, the county is facing financial problems itself," said Village Manager Jeff Wallace.
"Some really good questions were asked that there just aren't good answers to."
Ouimet presented an overview of the current county budget of $187.5 million, of which $97.5 million is general fund.
"There are concerns about revenues and expenditures continuing to rise at a very high rate, and concern that we need to start curbing our expenditures so we can continue to carry a healthy financial position for the county," Ouimet said.
"We have the ability to contain costs now before it becomes a serious problem."
Ouimet laid out a few cost-containment ideas, including seeking better returns on investments to add money to county retirement program instead of taking $4 million out of the budget every year.
Another was in public safety, which is a touchy issue for Ouimet and the village.
"Police protection has to be the No. 1 priority of the budget for them," Wallace said.
Ouimet said it always has been a priority for him as a county commissioner.
"I've felt for a long time that public safety is paramount in what the county should be providing its citizens," he said. "We need to maintain our road patrol and expand the jail."
Village President Pat Vailliencourt said she was encouraged that both commissioners were committed to supporting public safety.
"What's happened is the Board of Commissioners has adopted this policy of how to spend tax dollars. Road patrol safety isn't a mandated service, so they don't provide an adequate level for the whole county."
Public safety expenditures are almost 35.6 percent of the 2006-07 general fund, or about $34.7 million, but the cost of contracted services for sheriff's deputies is due for a major increase –– from more than $100,000 per year per deputy to approximately $160,000 each.
Vailliencourt said the village and townships simply can't bear to absorb that kind of increase.
"If you look at it on a per-household basis, there is absolutely no way they can ask us to afford that."
Vailliencourt questioned the priorities of the Board of Commissioners, venting frustration about spending taxpayer money on building improvements while seeming to ignore public safety needs.
"How can they talk about (building enhancements) when we have to release criminals because we don't have enough jail space?" she asked. "How do you justify that?"
She used the analogy of public schools: Every taxpayer has to support public schools, but if parents decide to put their children in a private school, that doesn't relieve them of the obligation to support public schools, it's critical to the entire population, she said.
"We expect when we call 911 that there will be someone there to help us," she said. "We have not accepted that maybe, just maybe, nobody will show up."
Wallace said he could see where the county began to go wrong in its spending decisions.
"(Ping Mills and Ouimet) basically said the county made a big mistake over the last 20 years," Wallace said. "When a lot of revenues were coming in, they started this big building program, and now they don't have the money to take care of everything they have."
Wallace also said he was hopeful that the commission is beginning to listen to the taxpayers more than in the past.
"It's the first time I can remember representatives coming out and sharing this information with us. It's a credit to Mark and Jessica to come out and do that for us," he said.
"There is beginning to be a lot better discussion at the County Board meetings; instead of 10-1 votes on every issue there are more 6-5 votes."
Edward Freundl is a reporter for Heritage Newspapers. He can be reached at 428-8173 or efreundl@heritage.com.
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