Whitfield County commissioners on Monday may discuss the county's troubled budget in their first meeting since department-by-department presentations wrapped up before Thanksgiving.
The county faces drastically reduced tax revenue and stagnant -- if not increasing -- expenses. Chairman Mike Babb estimates commissioners may need to trim $5 million or more from the $45 million budget to bring its bottom line into the black.
IF YOU GO* What: Whitfield County commissioners meeting* When: 6 p.m. Monday* Where: 301 W. Crawford St., Administrative Building No. 2
"We sincerely hoped we would be out of this drudgery by now," Commissioner Randy Waskul said. "But we can't raise taxes in this economy, and both our sales tax and property tax revenue are down, so now we've just got to do what's right for the county."
In October, commissioners voted to keep the tax rate steady. That move, plus declining property values, actually means the county will take in less money next year.
Already, in hearings that spanned much of this fall, commissioners scoured each department head's budgets for cuts. On Monday, commissioners may discuss the budget, according to their agenda. But three formal hearings on the issue will occur over the next weeks. The county must adopt a budget by the new year.
Options for cuts basically are limited to personnel, Babb has said previously.
"Sixty-five percent of our budget is employee salaries and benefits," he said. "We've got several options. We have across-the-board salary decreases, furloughs ... layoffs. There are only certain ways you can address this, and none of the choices are good."