It looks like Ingham County will get out of its immediate budget crisis — a $3 million hole — with a variety of accounting gimmicks and standard budget cuts. (Go here to see suggested cuts from the county controller’s office.)
I’d be shocked if any commissioner signed on to some of the high-profile items on a list the controller prepared previously for cuts. For example, no one ran for office on the platform of eliminating animal control enforcement
The largest cut is to “Change Cooperative Reimbursement Funds Fiscal Year” to save $265,000. Not sure what that is, but there you go.
$250,000 each would be saved from health care and from a six-month hiring freeze, according to the list. Then there is $195,000 from “Funds Reserved from Sheriff’s Savings – 2010 Budget.”
Then there’s a list of possible long-term savings for the county. That’s where it will get interesting.
This list also has the animal control shutdown on it. It also has shutdowns of county parks and health clinics and scenarios for a reduced work week for county employees.
Take a good look. The county’s budget woes aren’t going away — and neither are these budget cut ideas.
