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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Contact:
Don
Krupp, Chief Administrative Officer, 360-786-5440
Thurston
County 2009 Preliminary Budget On Line
OLYMPIA
–
Thurston
County
’s preliminary 2009 budget
is on line on the county’s web site. The
spending plan provides the financial framework that county officials will use
to pay for programs and services for next year and the outlook is not good
according to Chief Administrative Officer Don Krupp.
“The past few years we might have called each budget a “hold the
line” type spending plan; the 2009 budget is regressive.”
The
total budget for 2009 is set at $374,087,170 which includes capital
construction funds. The general
fund budget, which pays for most of the services used by the public, is
actually down about 1% to $76,244,911. Krupp
says a structural problem in the budget has meant millions of dollars in cuts,
especially in the ’08 and ’09 budgets, with more reductions to come.
“Counties rely primarily on property taxes and sales tax for revenue.
The property tax is limited to an increase of 1% a year which does not
keep up with inflation. And, as we
all know, sales tax revenue is down dramatically because of the recession.
With these challenges, we will be cutting back every year for the foreseeable
future unless some elemental changes are made on the revenue side.”
Every
office and department of county government is cutting back in order to balance
the 2009 budget. Krupp says the
reductions will be felt by the public. “We
are at the point now that reductions in staff and programs are needed.
That will mean the reduction or elimination of some services, the
laying off of more employees, potential increases in fees for some county
programs, and likely extra time for some services to be delivered.”
Those
interested in reading a summary of the budget or in reviewing all of the
details, should visit the
Thurston
County
web site at www.co.thurston.wa.us
and hit the button that says
“Thurston County
2009 Preliminary Budget” on the
right hand side of the page. People
can also comment by phone at 360-786-5440 or by e-mail by visiting the Board
of County Commissioners page on the web site.
Thurston
County Commissioners will hold deliberations on the budget through the end of
November. A public hearing will be
held at 6 PM on Monday, December 1st in Room 280 of Building One of
the Thurston County Courthouse,
2000 Lakeridge Drive SW
in
Olympia
. Adoption of the 2009 budget is
set for Monday, December 15th at the board’s regularly scheduled
meeting.
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