Barrow County’s elected leaders last year took significant steps to curb spending and county employees are doing more with fewer resources. But the county government’s fiscal troubles are continuing, according Commission Chairman Danny Yearwood.
“The current projection is a $1 million deficit in 2010,” Yearwood said Tuesday in his annual State of the County address to the Barrow County Chamber of Commerce.
He said the county was forced to make very difficult, but necessary decisions last year, cutting jobs and other spending.
“If we had continued on the path we were on, this county, like many others, would have been broke,” Yearwood said.
With the projection of another large deficit at the end of FY2010 in September, he said “the answer is not raising taxes or more government spending” and that the government must operate on the premise of “what the county needs, not what the county wants.”
While commenting toward the end of his speech about the importance of public safety, the chairman’s discussion of the county’s ongoing financial troubles in such a public venue may have been the first shot across the bow in the politics surrounding the quickly approaching FY2011 budget talks.
The message may have been intended to send a message not only to the business community, but also to Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith, who butted heads publicly and privately with Yearwood during last year’s budget negotiations and was in the audience at the Leisure Services building.
Yearwood noted that work on the FY2011 budget would begin soon. And though he said the county would “continue to expand the public safety departments to ensure our citizens are protected,” he also said, “Make no mistake, there will be tough decisions ahead.”
The sheriff said Wednesday that he was encouraged to hear the chairman talk about the importance of public safety, but he has been told privately by other members of the board that balancing the FY2011 budget would be a challenge.
Asked how the county could fill the projected $1 million deficit and also pull together a budget for 2011, Smith said he didn’t know.
“I wish we had that old crystal ball of the future,” he said. “We’ll just have to crunch the numbers again and figure out what is in the best interest for the safety of the citizens.
“My responsibility is the safety of citizens and my employees. I just hope we can do the new budget without the acrimony we had last year."
After a year of great political conflict and controversy, Yearwood received a very cordial reception from the chamber.
At the end of the speech, the audience gave him a standing ovation.
You are a HUGE part of the budget deficit.
Hey Wilburn, your statement at the last BOC about being under budget from that childish budget presentation showed your lack of understanding finances and this article proves it. Not 1 million under as you so proudly proclaimed after the presentation, but 1 million over.
What the county needs is for the BOC to stop spending so much money on lawyers and legal fees - Settle and get on with it.
What the county wants is for the BOC to stop spending so much money on the County Attorney.
Seems to me what the needs and what the county wants are one in the same.
Remind me to not renew my chamber membership.