County deficit doubles in a month

On his third day as interim county manager, T. Michael Brown had to convey the news to commissioners that Douglas County's deficit had more than doubled to $350,000.

Faced with balancing the budget without using reserves, Brown asked commissioners last week for a time block at the May 1 meeting to review the components of the county's $120 million budget that must be finalized June 1.

Brown took over as interim county manager on April 1, following the departure of Dan Holler for Grass Valley, Calif.

Brown said in an interview Friday the deficit climbed from the $137,686 Holler outlined in a March 19 budget overview to $350,000.

That includes an $80,000 expenditure to China Spring Youth Camp and Western Nevada Regional Youth Center, $60,000 less in the assessor's commission and $100,000 less in the county's share of supplemental city/county relief tax.

"The budget can be fixed," Brown said. "What it requires is a very high level of scrutiny on the expenditure side of government. I believe government should be lean and very effective at what it does. We should only provide services that the private sector can't provide or the government can do better."

Brown told commissioners that department heads and elected officials met April 1 and "talked candidly" about the budget.

"There is a strong desire not to lay off people," he said.

Discussion included foregoing merit raises and other measures to retain employees.

If the board chooses to balance the budget without the use of reserves, and layoffs are the solution, Brown asked for "time and opportunity for employees to look for other jobs."

"These employees are part of our family," he said. "It's not an enjoyable process."

In an effort to forestall layoffs, Brown said 28 positions - 5.3 percent of the county's 522 employees - were held vacant.

"The best thing you can do as a manager is give them a longer window of opportunity to look for other employment. If they decide to balance the budget without the use of reserves, we will have to look at people. You're looking at services, but services equal people. Seventy percent of the current revenue is personnel cost and that's because we are a service industry," Brown said.

Brown said budgeting for the fiscal year that starts July 1 is the most challenging in his 12 years with Douglas County.

"When I came 12 years ago, we were facing the same issue, but we saw a significant rise in assessed valuation because of growth. That's not in the forecast this time," he said.

Looking ahead to fiscal year 2009-10, Brown said he wants to set up two committees. The first would be an internal budget review committee that would meet year-round.

"It would review financial policies, the long-term financial picture, contracts - a comprehensive fiscal picture of the county," Brown said.

The second recommendation is for an economic development council that would include the county manager, Community Development Director Mimi Moss and the commissioners or their appointees.

"The council would look at what we want in the way of business in our community," Brown said.

"This is the perfect time to look at things that would generate a better economy. Every single tax dollar comes from the market place," he said. "We need to do everything we can as a community to support business - tourism, manufacturing, retail."

Three options for balancing this fiscal year's budget have been discussed, but not factored, he said.

They include suspending the Douglas Area Rural Transit, closing the Lake Tahoe library branch and charging for youth services.

"The state heard about DART and asked us to continue, especially for people with disabilities," Brown said.

The state backed up its request with an offer of $80,000 to $100,000 to keep the transportation system running, Brown said.