Less revenue, less money, better ways sought to use it
EMMET CO., MI -- With dwindling property values causing loss of revenue, a special task force has been assembled in Emmet County to figure out how they can stretch county dollars.
The hope is to avoid more cuts until the economy fully recovers.
Emmet County Controller Lyn Johnson says the committee will pull out the Emmet County blueprint and look for lack of efficiency.
The county is expecting to work with the smallest budget yet and they want to be proactive.
"We are looking at this as an opportunity to reinvent how we manage and how we handle our system here," said Johnson.
Emmet County Controller Lyn Johnson says he expects this year to be the worst financially. He says since 2008, revenues have decreased in the county, a big part because of the number of foreclosures. Property values have also dropped. And when the revenue from property tax makes up 65 percent of the annual budget, it's less money to work with. This year, the county expects $2-million chopped from the budget that existed in 2008 and because of this, the county has created a committee to look at how each dollar can be stretched to the max.
"Prioritize every dollar that we spend, and that's the purpose of the committee we are setting up, to try to come up with some recommendations," said Johnson.
The advisory committee consists of elected officials, department heads, and a community member at large.
"We're not doing this out of desperation, we are doing this to plan ahead and utilize the best resources that we have, not raise taxes, not ask people to raise taxes, and provide the people with quality services," said Johnson.
Johnson says in the big picture, Emmet County doesn't have it too bad. He says the county has made very few lay-offs, none are expected for this year, and overall, they haven't been hit as hard as other counties. Still, he says the county is trying to be proactive with the formation of the committee, which will cut, consolidate, and reinvent where possible.
