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Posted: 10/24/12

Hackel submits 2013
budget with 5 percent cut

by CHRIS GRAY
Observer Staff Writer

      The Macomb County Executive's Office is proposing a budget that shows a 5 percent reduction without dipping into reserves.
       County Executive Mark Hackel has presented a balanced budget for the 2013 fiscal year, giving the Board of Commissioners until the end of the year to make a decision on the budget.
       The $184 million general fund budget is a decrease of nearly $10 million, or 4.8 percent, from the 2012 budget.
       Hackel said he was "pleasantly surprised" that they were able to present a balanced budget that didn't require using dollars from the $55 million fund balance.
       "That was our goal and we made it happen," he said. "This was a cooperative effort on behalf of everyone involved, from the countywide (officials) to the department heads to the employees to make this a reality."
       The executive's office dealt with a $16.4 million gap in the general fund through operation cost reductions, position cuts through attrition and anticipated labor concessions.
       About 64 percent of the county's expenditures will go toward personnel in 2013.
       "We didn't have to terminate or fire one employee, however we did have to eliminate positions, and that's how we've been able to conduct ourselves," he said.
       Around $2.2 million will be realized in 2013 through the county's practice of filling vacant positions only when necessary. Another $2 million was eliminated through reducing operating expenses with county heads and elected officials.
       Hackel said he avoided doing across-the-board cuts for the county services, saying his offices made suggestions to department heads to work with when creating their budgets.
       Of those department cuts, the sheriff's office saw a $921,000 reduction through managing overtime and fringe benefits.
       "The sheriff budget is always the one that takes the biggest hit . . . and I don't know that anyone has seen a less of a service provided by the sheriff's office," Hackel said.
       Other reductions include reductions to the executive's office as well as the Board of Commissioners.
       A spot of good news for the budget is a stagnant property tax value. The budget presumes a 2 percent reduction for 2013, but the 2014 year will remain at that rate and in 2015 it will grow by 2 percent.
       Each percentage of property tax value equates to $1 million in revenue for the county. More than 58 percent of the county's revenue is made up of property taxes.
       "Our objective is not just to do this as a one-year budget, we've put forth a 2013, 2014 and 2015 budget so that everybody understands where we're headed, and the outlook is pretty darn good," he said.