Based on preliminary budget requests, Washington County may be as much as $3.6 million short for 2009.
According to Washington County Commissioner John Grimes, the revenue from the county sales tax is roughly 5 percent lower than what they had projected for this year. Several departments have also reported a spike in fuel costs for the year.
"We've already spent as much on fuel for this year as we did all of last year," said Bob Badger, county engineer.
Sheriff Larry Mincks said his department's projected their fuel costs are 65 percent higher than last year.
"In view of the current situation, I think every elected official ought to look very seriously, if anyone is retiring, into not replacing them," Commissioner Sam Cook said. "We should see if we can get along with what we have."
Prosecutor Jim Schneider said he has considered such a measure, but no one in his department is close to retirement.
"We can't force people to retire," he said.
For the upcoming year, the prosecutor's office requested approximately $45,000 more than they received 2008 to cover various rising expenses.
Grimes called the $3.6 million budget shortage a worst-case scenario.
"The expenses were estimated as high as they can be and the revenues were estimated as low as they can be," he said.
The sheriff's office requested nearly $84,000 more than they requested in 2008. Mincks said he sought the extra money for courthouse cameras and equipment upgrades. The department cannot afford any reduction in staff, he said.
"We are currently at our minimum manpower (at the county jail), and our population continues to go up," Mincks said. If there were financial cuts to the department, "we would have to evaluate how much of a cut was made. We would look at overtime and training and equipment and not replacing what we would need to replace. If we had older equipment, we might hang on to it for another year.
"Cutting personnel is a last resort," he said.
The Ohio State University Extension office in Marietta had to cut 1.75 positions in 2007. Eric Barrett, agricultural educator, said they will have to wait until they see the funds allotted for 2009 to determine if additional cuts will be necessary.
"We've already made a lot of those changes because the county has been short over the past few years," he said. "We try to be fiscally conservative, and we have been able to get grants and contracts in the past, but you're not always able to rely on those."
Barrett said the tax revenue reports the commissioners have are always a few months behind and might not take into account some of the summer festivals that bring tourists to Washington County.
"We can only hope that these events will continue to bring in tourists and help our retail sales tax," he said. "And we continue to encourage people to shop in Washington County."
The Juvenile and Probate Courts reduced their budget requests for 2009, but the Common Pleas Court asked for roughly $50,000 more than in 2008.
Common Pleas Court Judge Susan Boyer said the judges could not comment on their budget request until they had all met and decided if further action needed to be taken.
Last year, the courts issued orders for the commissioners to appropriate nearly $217,000 in additional funds for new employees and raises for their current employees, stating they needed them to retain staff and handle their ever increasing caseload.
The commissioners initially denied the order, but eventually were able to find the appropriations to fund the request because revenues were higher than anticipated and they cut $110,000 from the budget for public defender contracts.
Grimes said the sales tax is currently as high as they the county is allowed to have it under the Ohio Revised Code.
"We currently have no other avenues for revenue," he said. "I think departments need to be aware that budgets are going to be really tight for next year, and everybody needs to think about what they ask for and how they are going to run the department if the state of the economy doesn't pick up and the sales tax continues to lag behind."
