Montco's Hoeffel floats across-the-board spending cut for 2011 budget
Across-the-board department cuts. Employee furloughs. Fewer holidays. For months, the Montgomery County commissioners have made ominous references to what it might take to pass a 2011 budget.
Across-the-board department cuts. Employee furloughs. Fewer holidays.
For months, the Montgomery County commissioners have made ominous references to what it might take to pass a 2011 budget.
On Wednesday, officials said the county's projected shortfall had swelled to $35 million, and talk veered from the abstract to the concrete.
Commissioner Joseph Hoeffel said he would like to see a 5 percent, across-the-board cut in spending, with exceptions for departments that can justify something smaller.
"We can't keep doing things the way we've been doing them," said Hoeffel, the board's lone Democrat.
Republicans James Matthews and Bruce Castor said the idea was worth considering. Matthews, the board chairman, mentioned furloughs, quickly adding that he would not favor them. Castor said the county should press the state to shoulder the cost of county courts.
No one talked about taxes.
The conversation was spurred in part by budget presentations last week from three round-the-clock departments: prison operations, nursing services, and 911.
Matthews said he did not see how those budgets could be cut. "There's no blood left in that stone," he said.
Still, the chairman was clearly surprised when Hoeffel floated his budget proposal. Matthews had planned to wait until next month to open detailed budget talks.
That the topic did emerge reflects the complex political undercurrent likely to infuse this year's budget. The commissioners each face reelection next year, with control of the board and county government in the balance.
After their unusual political alliance to block Castor from the chairman's seat, Matthews and Hoeffel have essentially controlled the budget in the last two years.
They closed a $27 million shortfall last year by freezing wages, privatizing the cafeteria and day care, and forcing employees to share insurance costs. Matthews noted the county has shed more than 350 employees in a decade while not raising taxes.
But more than once this year, he has said a tax increase must be considered. Hoeffel said he did not want to raise taxes in a lingering recession.
Castor cast the lone dissenting vote in the last two budgets, criticizing them as fat with patronage hires and "out of whack" spending priorities. He said Wednesday that it was too early to rule out any option, including a tax increase, but he said he would prefer other cuts first. And he noted he probably will not have much sway.
"If raising taxes is the right thing to do, then there's nothing stopping Commissioner Matthews and Commissioner Hoeffel from doing it," Castor said.