Library books and fire trucks could go in effort to balance Oconee County budget
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
By Ray Chandler/Special to the Independent-Mail
OCONEE COUNTY — Oconee County libraries could see fewer new books, and fire departments may not see replacement fire trucks next year as the county council seeks to reduce a $2 million hole in the county budget.
The council budget and finance committee, which includes all council members, voted Monday to cut the amount available for purchases of new library books for fiscal year 2009-10 from $115,000 to $100,000. Kendra Brown, assistant county administrator for administration and finance, told council members at the beginning of the budget hearing that, as it stood, the proposed $45.12 million 2009-10 county budget was more than $2 million in the red.
Less certain is whether the replacement schedule for fire trucks will not be followed for a year. The county replaces two trucks a year, Emergency Services Director Rodney Burdette told council members, “but we could skip a year or two if money is tight.” “It would put us further behind than we are now,” he said, “but we could skip a year.”
Burdette urged that council members consider a refurbished ladder truck, which he said could be purchased for about $300,000, instead of scrapping entirely the replacement of a 20-year-old, 100-foot ladder truck now used by the Westminster Fire Department. The requested $980,000 for the truck had not been included the proposed budget. The refurbished ladder truck could give 10-12 years of service, Burdette said. Two trucks slated for the Long Creek and Cleveland fire departments, considered for purchase in the current budget year, are included in the coming year's budget.
The council has left undecided, however, whether to go ahead with the five-year lease-purchase proposed by county administrator Dale Surrett or to purchase the trucks with money from the county reserve funds, an action the majority of council members have said they leaned toward. A majority of the council voted April 14 to terminate Surrett's contract as administrator, but he remains in that position pending the outcome of a May 12 hearing. He is not working from his administration building office, however, and is not taking part in the budget hearings.
Burdette's approximately $2.5 million budget for emergency services is about $3 million less than what he requested. One area where council members have sought to add money was in compensation to emergency services volunteers.
With $120,000 budgeted for that in the current year, Burdette had requested $150,000 for the coming year. Surrett, however, had recommended cutting the whole amount in the proposed budget. Council member Wayne McCall recommended finding something for the volunteers. “We need to put some money back for the volunteers and take the money out of someplace else,” he said. Brown said one area that should not be left short of money is the information technology department. “It touches everything we do,” she said.
Yet, Brown said, there had been no plan for an IT organization, no standardization of equipment and the “phone system is a mess.” The courthouse phone system was in particular disarray, Brown said. The county's information technology department has been audited by the Columbia-based consultants VC3 since shortly after the firing in April 2008 of the former IT director Richard Reeves. Mike Jann, with VC3, said there is now a reorganization plan.
Initial estimates by VC3 pegged the cost of needed IT upgrades at about $325,000, but also with an estimate that the upgrades and reorganization could save the county about $600,000 a year in IT costs.
The next budget hearing is today at 6 p.m. in county council chambers at 415 Pine St. in Walhalla.