Shoshone County makes budget cuts

WALLACE –– Shoshone County will have a public meeting this coming Tuesday, where they will bring the proposed budget before the community for comment and potential approval.

After several painful meetings concerning the budget, the various elected officials and department heads cut enough of the proposed $16.5 million budget to move forward with the budget, with some help from two different one-time revenue sources.

After breaking down each department’s budget, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) approved $1.2 million in cuts – which will be paired with $2 million in revenues from a property sale between the county and Maverik, who are expected to build a gas station and convenience store at the recently acquired property in Smelterville.

Two weeks ago, the BOCC was confidently moving toward September 5, the state deadline for counties to present their budgets for the coming fiscal year to the public – the county budget was set to increase, but at a slower rate than the previous year. That confidence came crashing down when the numbers began telling a different story.

“We started to notice that some figures weren’t lining up, so we decided to take a deeper look,” BOCC chairman David Dose told the News-Press.

According to documents provided to the News-Press by the BOCC, the county has overbudgeted by more than $3 million over the past four years – the reason behind this has yet to be determined. There are a number of potential reasons that have been discussed, including overspending, previous budgets not accurately reflecting the uses of one-time revenues, and the overestimation of expected revenues. In any case, the BOCC asserted that the county did not have the funds necessary to present the budget as originally proposed.

The cuts came from a wide variety of places, however, an emphasis was placed on not cutting employees or their current wages.

The board did vote to reduce the Volunteer Employee Benefits Administrator (VBEA) benefit amount for each employee – reducing the max amount from $1,000 to $750 for employees with families and $500 for single employees. These VEBA accounts can be used to cover the costs of medical deductibles.

The county had also recently been exploring options concerning cost of living adjustments (COLA) for the 150 county employees – The plan was to set the COLA at 1% for the coming year – a far cry from the 7% that was approved the year before. Along with that, the board was going to set aside more than $80,000 – or 2% of wages – that would be held and potentially diverted into salaries once a wage study could be completed.

Now, with the state of the county’s finances, the 1% COLA has been taken off of the table and the additional $80,000 will not be held. This is roughly $130,000 in budget savings for the county.

“I am concerned that we are plugging the hole with one-time cash, meaning we’re going to have more cuts next year as we try to solve the problem of the county being overcommitted,” Dose stated on Thursday. “I think it clouds the issue if we tell the public that we’re in a crisis but we’re still giving an increase. More importantly, I’m concerned that an increase now at 1% may mean that we’re contributing to having to cut positions or cut pay next year. Right now, this commission did not create this problem, the former folks created an untenable situation and if we vote on a cost of living increase right now next year I couldn’t say that we didn’t further the problem.”

Commissioner Tracy Casady wanted to acknowledge that this decision wasn’t made lightly and hopes that the employees are patient with them as they navigate this situation.

“Our employees are very important and valuable – they provide the services to our taxpayers,” Casady said. “If we lose any of them it’s going to cost us with less-trained employees and less services provided. I hope they stick with us. It’s important to remember that they are also not just employees, they’re taxpayers here and they’re facing inflation just like everyone else.”

Along with the one-time funds from the Maverik sale, the county will be using a large amount of LATCF funds, an extension of ARPA, to cover various expenses that had been proposed in the budget.

Commissioner Jeff Zimmerman was blunt when discussing the use of the one-time funds, reminding everyone in the room that anything saved this year by the funds will once again have to be considered a year from now.

“This is only a temporary fix,” Zimmerman said. “I think that after an audit we need to see where we’re at. We’re just putting money into it and then next year when we come back and we won’t have any more money to put back into it. Either way, we’re going to have to open this budget so that we can see how we’re going to look next year.”

Zimmerman’s statements don’t necessarily reflect the fact that the county is subject to an annual third-party audit, however, the board would like to make sure that no mistakes were made during those recent audits.

It's important to note that the BOCC didn’t blindly accept any proposed cuts from the various departments – all of them were reviewed and discussed to ensure that vital services were not being cut.

The Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office initially approached the board with cuts that included their reserve officer program, knowing full well that it would mean fewer patrols in key areas, including the North Fork and St. Joe River areas during the summer months.

However, Dose and the rest of the board were vehemently opposed to cutting anything that would reduce services to the citizens of the county.

Shoshone County Sheriff Holly Lindsay took to social media to express her gratitude for the board’s decision.

“After telling the Board of County Commissioners of the option to cut the Reserve Program and explaining the services they provide to our river residents, the BOCC was adamant to keep the program funded,” Lindsey wrote. “I was overjoyed at their decision as the reserves are a vital resource to our citizens.”

The public hearing for the proposed 2023/24 Shoshone County budget will be Tuesday, September 5, at 4 p.m. in the District Courtroom of the Shoshone County Courthouse.