Administrator optimistic on future county budgeting By Drew Davis--STAFF WRITER Published: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 3:57 PM CDT Wayne County Administrator Jason Tinsley is confident that the county can control its budget in coming years. He expressed that confidence in an interview Monday despite an audit report that was released last week, showing a wide variety of county allocations over budget last year. Overall, actual expenditures exceeded budgeted expenditures by $3.4 million. “It’s a combination of so many different things,” Tinsley said. One factor, he noted, was “a constant flux of administrators.” Though Mike Deal (now Jesup city manager) worked with the Wayne County Board of Commissioners to put the 2012 budget together, Interim County Administrator Nancy Jones oversaw its implementation for most of the year. (And though Jones worked with the commissioners to craft the current budget, Tinsley took responsibility for overseeing it earlier this year.) Tinsley also noted that the 2012 budget was not amended to reflect additional grants—for example, a Go Fish grant—that paid for some of the additional expenses. The audit report supports Tinsley’s contention. Actual revenues exceeded budgeted revenues by $2.3 million. And part of the apparent problem, according to Tinsley, amounts to nothing more than a bookkeeping technique. The audit was “skewed” by the paying off of the Wayne County Department of Family and Children Services building last year. Though most of the money for that building had been paid in past years through a lease-purchase agreement, the entire $2.25 million expense showed up on the books this year, resulting (on paper) in an overrun of $2.248 million in the capital-outlays allocation for “health and welfare.” The biggest reason for the county’s negative cash balance ($3.1 million) at the end of the year, Tinsley noted, was the late tax digest. This year, though, the digest is being completed much earlier. (The Wayne County Board of Education was scheduled to set its tentative millage Tuesday night. The county commissioners pass an overall millage that includes the county-government millage and the school-system millage; both are based on the tax figures in the county digest.) Looking ahead, Tinsley said that he plans to work with the commissioners to “set the tone” for next year. “In my opinion, the best way to control budget expenses is through the budget process,” he said. The biggest challenge is health care. Indeed, while different departments identified different reasons for overruns on specific allocations, all of those departments’ “overages in interdepartmental charges were due to excessive medical bills for current and/or retired employees,” according to Tinsley’s comments (“management’s discussion and analysis”) in the audit report. Tinsley said that he plans to recommend instituting a wellness program. “We’re going to have to take a little more responsibility for managing the [health-care] costs,” he said. “... The employees have to be partners in the program to ensure its viability.” For example, the county shouldn’t absorb the entirety of increases in the cost of medications, he said. Nor will a more proactive approach be limited to health care. “We’re going to put a much bigger emphasis on recurring [energy] costs,” Tinsley said. The county will look at policies to contain these costs, he said—for example, by considering the types of vehicles bought and how they are used. Recently, the county paid up front for a new heating, air-conditioning and ventilation system at a new Manningtown community center rather than reinstalling the 25-year-old system that had been used. According to Tinsley, the savings will pay for the cost of the system in a year and a half, and the county will benefit not only from savings in energy bills for years to come but also in savings from the cost of repairs. In addition, the county will be looking at what services should be provided by the county staff and what services should be provided by contractors in the private sector, Tinsley explained. Tinsley’s proactive approach was evident last week, when the commissioners unanimously approved his recommendation—based on auditors’ recommendations—for a policy statement on fund balances. The statement sets 25 percent of expenditures as a goal for the general-fund balance. According to Tinsley, meeting that long-term goal will do away with the need for the county to borrow money for operations while awaiting new tax revenues. Typically, the county borrows up to $6 million a year.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 23:44:50 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015