November 15, 2012 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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By NATALIE JOHNSON
The Mason County Board
of Commissioners is mull-
ing over tough decisions this
week, including whether
or not to ask for 8 percent
across-the-board cuts to bal-
ance the county's 2013 bud-
get.
Less than a month before
the budget needs to be adopt-
ed, it still has a $1.9 million
shortfall. The board of com-
missioners met Tuesday to
discuss options for balancing
the budget.
'Tee have to look at that
imbalance and pare it down,"
Commissioner Tim Shel-
don said.
~ "I don't
think vot-
ers want
their taxes
increased
in a reces-
sion."
Sheldon
proposed
Tim asking all
Sheldon d e p a r t -
ment heads
and elected
officials to cut their budgets
by 8 percent.
"I'll put the option on the
table that we do across-the-
board reductions," he said.
Commissioner Steve
Bloomfield said an 8 percent
reduction seemed "reason-
able," adding that he will
not be in office at the time of
the vote. Commissioner-elect
Terri Jeffreys will take of-
fice in the unexpired term on
Nov. 27.
Commissioner Lynda Ring
Erickson agreed that an 8
percent reduction would bal-
ance the budget, but asked
the commission to look at
other options before voting
for the cuts.
Mason County Auditor
Karen Herr spoke out against
the 8 percent cut, calling it
"unfair."
"I feel that is probably the
worst way to balance a bud-
get," she said.
i!iii !i iiiii!i!i!!ii
Lynda Ring
Eriekson
Steve
Bloomfield
In June,
the com-
mission
asked de-
partment
heads and
elected of-
ficials to
draft sta-
tus quo
budgets
for 2013,
or bud-
gets that
matched
June 2012
levels. The
budgets
could take
into ac-
count regu-
lar or nego-
tiated sal-
ary increas-
es, and
increases
to the 2012
budgets ap-
proved before June. Those
increases account for the $1.9
million shortfall.
The commission also re-
ceived $1.4 million of supple-
mental budget requests for
2013, $57,000 of which the
commission has approved
Sheldon said.
"I think it would be very
difficult to approve anything
not knowing what will be re-
turned (in the carryover)," he
said.
Sheldon said uncertainty
about a Thurston County
Superior Court decision last
summer regarding a com-
plaint from the Teamsters
Local 252 also makes it more
difficult to deal with the
shortfall.
This summer, a Thurston
County judge upheld a three-
year-old complaint from the
Teamsters, alleging that
the county commission had
engaged in unfair bargain-
ing practices when it voted
against a proposed contract
with the group just after the
beginning of the global reces-
sion in 2008.
The commission is current-
ly in mediation with the group
with the goal of finding a mu-
tually agreeable settlement, increase the budget shortfall, rely on the money to balance rich said.
That settlement, Crick- In the past, the year-end the 2013 budget. The commission agreed to
son said, could wipe out any budget carryover, or leftover If the carryover does reach meet at 10 a.m. today to dis-
funds left over from the 2012 money, has been used to cov- $2 million, Erich has pre- cuss more options for decreas-
budget, er shortfalls. While the car- dicted a $6.9 million ending ing the shortfall. The board is
"It could eliminate the car- ryover from the 2012 budget fund balance for 2012. The scheduled to vote on the bud-
ryover and then some," she could be as high as $2 mil- county needs to have enough get by Dec. 3, and in order to
said. lion, Chief Finance Manager money in the fund balance to have two weeks of public com-
The settlement could also Theresia Ehrich said, it could operate for two months. Each ment before that meeting, the
mean increased salaries for also be as low as $1.2 million, month, the county expends budget needs to be printed
many employees, which could meaning the county cannot $2 million to $3 million, Eh- and published on Friday.
The end of the year is fast approaching...
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• m
i i i i i
for the November 2
will be
.
(Deadline for other issues will still be
Mondays at 5:00 p.m.-- but the Journal
will be closed November 22 & 23, 2012)
I S
helton-Mason County
227 W. Cota St. • 426-4412
www, masoncounty, com
Advertising builds brand recognition
J
S
Purchased for
other reasons
Made purchase decision
based on strength of brand
Purchased based on
ii?compromise
i between brand and price
' iii
Bought based on price alone
The source of this graphic and its information is The Economist quoting a Milward Brown survey of more than
6,000 consumers on their purchase decisions in 33 categories of goods and services and more than 500 brands,
Shelton-Mason County
Call us today at 360-426-4412 or stop in our offices at 227 West Cota in Shelton
Shelton-Mason County Journal- Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 - Page A-5