Greene County adopts $117M budget

Greene County workers are getting raises for the second time in six years.

The wage hike is outlined in the $117.5 million 2015 budget approved by the Greene County Commission on Jan. 30.

“This is an investment in our employees,” said Bob Cirtin, the new Greene County presiding commissioner.

“We want to retain and attract good employees and reward our employees who hung with us during the tough times.”

Pay increases for the county’s roughly 750 workers is a top priority for all three county commissioners, and they say it’s made feasible by a projected trend of growing sales tax revenue. Last year, sales tax collections rose 7.5 percent.

In the approved annual budget, Greene County employees received a 3 percent cost-of-living pay increase on Feb. 1, and workers with four years or more of service with Greene County will receive a one-step bump in their pay grade beginning July 1. The grade-level increases can bump pay as much as 3 percent, depending on the position, said Joclynn Brown, the county’s acting budget officer.

The $37.8 million general revenue fund, a 7.8 percent increase, provides funding for 54 percent of all wages for full-time equivalents. Total salaries and benefits comprise $45.3 million, or nearly 39 percent of the budget.

The county’s fund balance is $9.9 million, which officials attribute to conservative budgeting over the past six years and an improving economy. In addition to wages, the budget allows for the purchase of 15 sheriff’s department vehicles to the tune of roughly $344,000.

Though the purse strings are loosening, Cirtin said the nearly $2.6 million increase in the general revenue fund falls short of $9.5 million in identified critical needs.

Since the onset of the recession, 27 county vacancies remained unfilled. However, the 2015 budget restores two general revenue positions – a permit specialist and an election coordinator – upgrades the county administrator’s post to full time from part time and adds three court bailiffs and one traffic court clerk.

Helping to usher in brighter days is Jack Stack’s Great Game of Business, the open-book management system that county commissioners say is positively influencing the budget process.

Every Tuesday morning, county employees are welcome to attend a “huddle” where financials and operational issues are discussed.

Commissioner Harold Bengsch calls it the Great Game of Government, and the county is now in its third year.

“It’s working because they know they are making a difference,” Bengsch said, noting the county’s transparency about financial strains has produced employee buy-in.

County Auditor Cindy Stein led the Feb. 3 huddle by celebrating the completed budget and the raises that came along with it in front of around 100 employees in the Historic Courthouse Room 212. She encouraged the workers to look at the budget online and to know their department numbers.

“It’s chock full of information. All of what the Great Game of Government has been teaching us is in this document,” Stein said, holding up a hard copy.

Cirtin, who was elected in November and continues to run his own small business, applauds the business approach to governing.

He pointed to an idea by a female jailer who suggested the county sell feminine products in the commissary instead of giving them to prisoners for free. That idea could save the county hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars a year, he said.  

Cirtin said the huddles helped him better understand the constraints various county departments are facing.

“I knew exactly what I was getting into,” he said.

Challenges remain. Cirtin said state reimbursements for prisoners – $20 per day per inmate – still are well behind actual costs of about $45 per day per prisoner. The criminal justice system was budgeted at $32.4 million for 2015, and he said an overcrowded jail remains a concern. The cost to move inmates to jails outside the county is budgeted at $650,000 this year, a 62.5 percent increase.

Cirtin said the courthouse needs a new roof and the county’s share of a radio system used by law enforcement officers and firefighters exceeds $2 million. Setting aside a portion of that money was removed from the final 2015 budget.

Cirtin said the budget directs money into 10 departmental funds he calls silos, which guide county spending.

“Some people would like to take all those accounts and put them into one account, and then the commissioners would decide who gets what. I don’t agree with that. I like carrying out the voters’ wishes,” Cirtin said. “But that does mean we can’t spend the money on anything else.”

During a presentation on character at last week’s Great Game huddle, 10-year county assessor employee Cindy Baldwin said workers should look for ways to be creative and innovate within the bounds of their jobs.

“What are some of the things about your job that you’ve learned through trial and error?” Baldwin asked the group.

“Mine is ‘don’t reinvent the wheel; learn to work with the wheel you’ve got.’ And you know what? Ten years later, it’s a pretty good wheel.”[[In-content Ad]]