Approved JoCo '07-'08 budget scuttled
Raffenburg plan for allocations of fed money, says Ellis, 'like starting over'
A last-minute budget proposal during a Thursday, June 7 meeting by Jim Raffenburg, chairman of the Josephine County Board of Commissioners, stunned members of the county Budget Committee.
It subsequently rescinded a $13 million budget for the 2007-08 fiscal year that was approved during a tense meeting on May 17 in the face of drastic budget shortfalls because of the lack of federal O&C monies.
However, the committee was reconvened after President Bush signed legislation which included a one-year extension of the county payments program for timber-dependent areas.
It’s anticipated that Josephine County will receive approximately $12 million under the payments program.
Earlier this month, Dave Toler, vice chairman of the county board, said that the commissioners likely would place half those federal dollars in a reserve fund and allocate the other $6 million towards its criminal justice system. The latter is comprised of the offices of the sheriff, district attorney, and juvenile justice.
However, Raffenburg was vacationing in Hawaii when the federal legislation was signed. And when he returned last week, he had his own ideas about what the budget from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008 should look like.
In a prepared statement, Raffenburg said that the county should combine the $12 million in federal funding with the $4.8 million general fund transfer to the public safety fund, approved on May 17, for a total two-year budget of $16.8 million.
Approximately $8.4 million would be allocated for the ‘07-’08 fiscal year, with the other half set aside as un-budgeted reserves for ‘08-’09.
Raffenburg said that he didn’t want to announce his proposal in such an abrupt manner, but “didn’t have a choice.” Commissioner Dwight Ellis said that the committee would need at least one more meeting to evaluate the plan.
“This is just like starting over,” Ellis said. “There is not enough information for me to go on.”
Under Raffenburg’s proposal, interfund transfers from the Josephine County Sheriff's Office (JCSO) totalling $2 million would be added to the percentage used to divide revenue between the three areas of the county’s criminal justice system, a figure of $5.59 million. That would bring the JCSO budget to $7.6 million.
The district attorney’s office would be budgeted at $1.3 million under the proposal, and juvenile justice would receive $1.8 million. Raffenburg also proposed keeping the juvenile shelter facility closed, and taking $500,000 for its operations and transferring it to the contingency line item of the public safety fund.
That move would lower juvenile justice’s budget to $1.3 million.
Raffenburg read from his prepared statement in defense of his budget proposal.
“It is all too easy to fall prey to the temptations, outspoken needs and requests of the many service programs within county government to spend all or most of this money this year,” he said. “Giving in to those temptations is what got us to the critical level of problems we are all facing today.”
Toler stated that Raffenburg’s plan would lead to a “very broken system for two years” rather than a “very minimal system” for one year.
Budget Committee member Charles Didato said that he wasn’t opposed to considering Raffenburg’s proposal.
“I think it’s a good concept, but it’s something that needs to be looked at,” he said.
Raffenburg explained that long-term solutions to the county’s funding problems would take two to three years to identify and even longer to implement, and that short-term aid would have to come from the state and local levels.
“Time is what we need,” Raffenburg said. “If we spend all the money this year, we won’t have time.”
Raffenburg acknowledged that the numbers for his plan “need to be fleshed out,” but that the county needs to be “prudent” with its finances.
Ellis questioned the potential effects of Raffenburg’s proposal, saying that it may have “hidden grenades” or “minefields.”
“This is going to have a ripple effect,” Ellis said.
Raffenburg said that the alternative to his budget “won’t be able to be supported next year.”
After further discussion, Raffenburg moved to rescind the motion passed on May 17 to approve the budget. That motion was adopted 6-0.
Didato moved to schedule another Budget Committee meeting for Wednesday, June 13 at 4 p.m., and that motion also was unanimously approved.
During a brief interview after the meeting, Raffenburg said that he was not surprised at the reaction to his proposal.
“I expected it,” he said. “But the situation didn’t allow it to happen any other way.”
Raffenburg went on to say that his main concern is to “honor the vote of the people in the May election,” referring to the county’s failed public safety levy, and that he is attempting to provide two years worth of stable services to residents at “whatever level they will buy.”
