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Hernando Today

County To Examine Spending Habits

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By MICHAEL D. BATES

Published: February 20, 2008

Hernando Today

BROOKSVILLE - When county commissioners meet Tuesday to discuss revenue-saving options, they are almost certain to tear apart each department budget looking to trim fat.

Commissioners have made it crystal clear that all managers' spending practices will be under the microscope. Everything from pencil allocations to number of staffers will be open for debate.

At County Commissioner David Russell's insistence, board members asked Interim County Administrator Larry Jennings to assemble budgetary statistics from department managers.

Commissioners will examine those budgets and suggest possible cost-saving ideas as they move toward meeting the deadline of turning in a balanced budget by July 15.
Budget Director George Zoettlein is scheduled to make a presentation during the meeting. His office, working for the first time with a biennial budget, will soon take pencil in hand and start tweaking the raw numbers from the submitted 2009 department budgets.

One of those budgets shows a 9 percent increase.

"We shouldn't be seeing any kind of 9 percent increases from any department," Russell said Tuesday. "Those will change.

"I don't believe any department can or should be up 9 percent, not only given the budgetary constraints we're under but also because the county has not grown by that extent and the consumer price index also hasn't grown by that much."

Zoettlein agreed that hefty budget increases for 2009 will not fly.

The county simply doesn't have the money to pay for it, he said.

"There's no way we would be able to afford (them) based on the parameters the Legislature has put in place," Zoettlein said. "We will have to retool them."

For example, according to the county's on-line budget, the community relations department is showing an 8 percent increase in 2009 over 2008. Other departments submitting hefty increases include the human resources department (9.25 percent), county attorney's office (5.60 percent) and county administration (6.65 percent).

Several department managers turned in 2009 budgets showing a zero percent change. At least one, the technology services department, showed a 3.38 decrease.

But Zoettlein stressed that the 2009 projections are "extremely raw" and were submitted primarily as a starting point for cost-cutting.
Department managers submitted them before any state legislative action, including the recently passed Amendment 1 property tax cut and the state-mandated rollbacks.

"None of the legislative action was taken into consideration when these budgets were put together," Zoettlein said.

Zoettlein used a zero-based budgeting system when putting together the 2008-09 biennial budget. That means every manager starts his budget at zero and must justify any funding.

Commissioners pushed for a zero-based budget to rein in wild spending. Just because a department manager spent a certain amount the previous year does not mean he must automatically spend it this year.

Hernando County's 2008 total budget stands at $421.8 million. Factoring in only the general fund, which represents the biggest pot of money, the figure is $125.5 million, according to the budget office.

Russell said he hopes Tuesday's meeting will give commissioners a sense of "where we're going and how we will be able to function within the revenue dollars allotted."

The board needs to look at its spending habits and make adjustments, he said.

That meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, at the Hernando County Government Center, 20 North Main St. in downtown Brooksville.

Reporter Michael D. Bates can be reached at 352-544-5290 or mbates@hernandotoday.com.

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