CROWN POINT | Lake County government officials have tens of millions of dollars in cost-cutting ideas but no consensus on which will generate the least pain to both public employees and services.
"We have over $20 million of ideas and not the pie-in-the-sky type," County Attorney John Dull said. "The problem is that they may have a disproportionate effect on north county."
The figure Dull referenced represents the dollar value of a tentative list of budget reductions that will have to go into place next year to meet a reduction in county government revenue because of impending cuts to local property taxes.
Lake County Councilman Larry Blanchard, R-Crown Point, who serves as chairman of the county government finance committee, said those ideas aren't ready for prime time yet.
"We are still kicking things around, and we want to keep it pretty tight to the belt right now so nobody starts to react and be thinking up ways to play dodge ball," Blanchard said.
Blanchard said county officials are looking at recommendations of the Good Government Initiative study, released 15 months ago, that include closing satellite offices in Gary, Hammond or East Chicago in north county.
The Good Government study also recommends merging agencies that provide duplicate services. Many county residents employed by potentially redundant government agencies live in north county.
The impact on north county of potential budget cuts always has given county leaders pause, but the state-imposed tax reductions are forcing their hands this time.
Blanchard said the forced cuts have county officials considering layoffs, service cuts and a local income tax -- an option he said he finds personally repugnant.
Dull said the rising cost of energy and the reduction of other government revenue will require deeper cuts in other areas of the budget, possibly reducing the amount of available cash in the county budget in 2009 by $15 million under what county government is set to spend this year.
Dull and Blanchard said all county elected officials and appointed department heads have to take part in the budget reduction before the county's fiscal body, the County Council, votes within four months on setting 2009 spending guides.
