County budget cuts target libraries, nurse
by Brent Shrum, Kootenai Valley Record
September 22, 2010
Lincoln County’s libraries, health nurse and planning department are facing major budget cuts as county officials come to terms with losses in revenue and cost of living increases.
The county commissioners are proposing cuts of around $40,000 for the libraries, $45,000 for the health nurse and $30,000 for planning. After years of "nickel and dime" budget trimmings, there’s no other option than to make some significant reductions in some areas, said Commissioner Tony Berget.
"Next year we may need to hit some of the departments that didn’t get hit this year," Berget said.
"What it really boils down to is revenue," said Clerk and Recorder Tammy Lauer. "We have less and less revenue every year."
A big concern is the loss of interest income from county investments. Rates are down from an average of more than 3 percent to around 1 percent.
"We were getting a million, and now we’re at $390,000," Lauer said.
Department heads have been frugal with their budgets and have already made cutbacks over the past few years, Lauer said.
"A lot of funds are pretty much at their minimum," she said. "All they’re going up is the wage increases."
The heads of the departments facing reductions this year say the cuts will be felt.
"It will make an impact – a significant impact – on the libraries; I can say that much," said library director Sami Pierson. "But we will try to maintain the quality of services and variety of materials as best we can under the circumstances."
County Nurse Karol Spas-Otte said her department, which provides screenings for young children and immunizations for all ages and monitors infectious diseases, among other services, "would be unable to function as we currently are," if the cuts are made.
While the county’s revenues have declined, the demands on the health department have gone up, Spas-Otte said.
"As our economy and out community seems to become increasingly depressed, it seems that the need for the services offered by the county health department increases," she said.
With a reduction in subdivision activity, the planning department had already been looking at cutting expenses, but not to the extent now being considered, said department head Kristin Smith. The proposed cuts could affect the department’s ability to implement an online geographic information system and to deal with an increasing number of regulatory violations in a timely manner, she said.
"I think it will definitely require some modifications in this coming year, and hopefully we can continue on with all the services we provide," Smith said.
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Editor’s Note: See the September 21, 2010 edition of the Kootenai Valley Record for the printed version of this story. The Kootenai Valley Record publishes once a week, on Tuesdays, in Libby, Montana. They are a locally owned community newspaper, located at 403 Mineral Avenue in Libby. For in-county and out-of-county subscription information, call 406-293-2424, or e-mail kvrecord@gmail.com.
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