County Leaders: We Want Input on Budget

Monday’s called meeting of the saw the board hear from constitutional, elected and statutory officers how a proposed 3-percent cut in their budgets would affect their respective departments.

We live-blogged the highlights of the meeting on our Twitter account, @DallasPatch, and you can read those tweets below. The tweets are posted in reverse chronological order.

Several county leaders’ spoke on the budget implications and more during the meeting. Videos clips of those statements are attached to this article. You will also find the latest proposed budget attached to this article as well.

The Board of Commissioners will hold its regularly scheduled meetings Tuesday, with its at 10 a.m. and at 7 p.m. Public hearings on the budget will be held at each meeting.

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11:56 a.m. Austin: We need YOU to come and give input. If you can't live with the cuts, you need millage increases for [county] to do what you want it to do, come speak at our meetings.

11:45 a.m. Sheriff Gary Gulledge: We don't know if the budget will be perfect. "We don't know how many times the phone's going to ring."

11:06 a.m. Donovan: "We're down to the bare bones."

11:05 a.m. District Attorney Dick Donovan: We're trying to get rid of "trash cases," incidents that should have never gone to court.

10:59 a.m. Austin: We continue to try to find places to cut. "People talk about fat, but we're in the deep tissue."

10:58 a.m. Austin: If we're at a point where [we have to make a millage increase], where we can't make these cuts, you have to let me know about it.

10:16 a.m. Jones: We may see longer lines at the tag office. "That's just the way it is."

10:14 a.m. Jones: There are certain things this government is mandated to do, and then there are certain things that would be nice to do. Libraries are going to be closed on Wednesdays, so "students with book reports due on Thursday shouldn't wait until Wednesday."

10:13 a.m. Jones: All constitutional, elected and statutory officers’ departments’ submitted budgets were smaller than last year's, some even under the target of a 3-percent reduction across the board.

10:10 a.m. Finance Director Tabatha Pollard: We've so far made $2.3 million in cuts to 2012 budget compared to 2011.County Administrator Mike Jones puts the budget in perspective: It's $9 million less compared to 2008 budget.