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Dillinger: more cuts for county likely in 2011
By Zach Dunkin
Current in Carmel
1/27/10
As if dealing with a $5 million-plus budget cut for 2010 weren’t difficult enough, Hamilton County Commissioner Steve Dillinger expressed concern today during his State of the County address for what lies ahead in 2011 and 2012.
“Our financial advisor predicts we’re going to have to cut our budget again next year to cover a shortfall of about $4.5 million,” Dillinger said in his 22nd State of the County address during the Noblesville Chamber of Commerce's monthly luncheon at the Oak Hill Mansion in Carmel. “That could mean cutting into basic services, and that is not good.”
While already dealing with lost income due to the state-imposed property tax cap, Dillinger said the county must now face a decrease in County Optional Income Tax (COIT) revenue. The COIT was established by the House Enrolled Act 1478 in 2007 to provide an avenue of relief for property taxpayers by allowing counties another funding source for increased spending.
“It’s first collected here, then sent to the state then returned to the county after two years,” Dillinger said. “Think about what was happening two years ago. That’s when we were in the depths of our economy, which means our income for COIT, which we (the county government) rely heavily on, is going to be down the next two years.”
Dillinger said the options the county could be facing would be laying off employees, which would affect services, going to a four-day work week of 10-hour days to save facility costs or four-day work week of 8-hour days to reduce salaries, and cutting back on road paving and snow and ice removal.
“We can’t put our jails, sheriffs and highway departments on four-day weeks, and can you imagine the backlog in our courts if we went to a four-day week there?” Dillinger said. “None of these options are what we want to do. We’re just going to have to take close look at what happens the next few months here.”
Still, he noted, Hamilton County’s financial situation is not as dire as that of other counties in the state. Hamilton County has a $13.7 million surplus, down from $20 two years ago, but still better than many counties with no surplus. The national unemployment rate is 9.4 percent, the state’s is 9.3 percent and
the county’s is 6.5 percent. And, he noted, CNN Money ranked Hamilton County 11th place in the U.S. for job growth over the last eight years.
“I can sit here and cry and moan about not having any money but, trust me, there are many counties out there going, ‘What are you guys complaining about?’ We have a lot to be thankful for,” he said.
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