ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
The adoption of a budget for the county encompasses the single most important responsibility for Seward County’s commissioners.
That from Administrator April Warden, who said at the commission’s most recent town hall meeting in Liberal, the board likewise holds the ultimate authority to approve and adopt a county budget.
“The commissioners have always allowed the department heads to be active in the budget work sessions and to hear from them what resources they need to run their department,” she said. “The department heads have always had an active role in that.”
Once a budget is adopted, Warden said it is then her responsibility to implement that budget.
“The board does make the final policy decisions regarding budget allocations and approval,” she said. “Preparation and adoption of the budget provides the primary opportunity for the county to evaluate our current services, measure and compare the needs for the different services we do offer and balance the public service needs against the tax and revenue burden required to finance those. The budget establishes the work programs and financial plan for the county for the coming year.”
Warden said each year, county staff forecasts the revenues the county will receive and the expenditures for the coming fiscal year, and this budget is constantly monitored to see if the county is spending less or more than what is received in revenue.
“The county then has to make those adjustments and those cuts to ensure we stay within a balanced budget,” she said. “This annual financial plan specifies the level of county services and resources to be provided in the coming year. That includes staff and personnel positions, the workforce who works for us, capital expenditures, which is our equipment, our buildings, and operating expenses that are needed just to be able to provide the services we provide to you, the constituents of Seward County.”
Warden said commissioners, staff and the entire community face budget challenges each year.
“When we start out with a budget, there are always challenges, and from year to year, those challenges change,” she said.
Warden reminded those in the audience the commissioners themselves and the county’s staff are also taxpayers, and they understand what constituents are being faced with a possible increase of more than 25 mills in this year’s mill levy due to an ongoing case with the Board of Tax Appeals.
“We’re being faced with the same challenges as you, as we’re taxpayers,” she said. “There’s not a single commissioner who is sitting up here this evening who wants to raise your taxes. The commissioners started this process in June of this year, but budgets are looked at throughout the year. They knew the challenges they were facing, and they were significantly more difficult than normal. None of these decisions have come easily, nor have they been taken lightly.”
Prior to the Liberal town hall, commissioners had already been through six budget work sessions, and another one took place just days after the town hall. One of those meetings took place with the county’s information technology department.
“They then met with all county staff June 17 and 18 as well as non-profit agencies and other agencies we fund to provide services that are beneficial to our community, but we as a county don’t offer ourselves,” Warden said. “They then met July 7 with the county counsel to review his budget. They met again July 16 and again July 29.”
