Washtenaw County Road Commission faces possible cuts as it adopts $33 million budget
A Washtenaw County Road Commission snow plow clears the shoulder of Textile Road after a winter storm.
File photo
The Washtenaw County Road Commission faces the prospect of budget cuts next spring after approving a 2011 budget of $33 million, with a deficit of about $2 million.
Steve Puuri, managing director of the Road Commission, said following the first quarter, the agency have to take a look at how to make additional cuts.
"We will have to look into service levels," he said. "It could be people; it could be not replacing equipment. That will be up to the board, but we can't keep taking money from the fund balance."
So far, Puuri said, the Road Commission has “dodged the bullet” with costly winter storms as the end of 2010 approaches. “We only need our good fortune to continue for 21 more days,” he said.
The proposed 2011 budget is “a conservative estimate of our revenue and a somewhat pessimistic view of our costs,” Puuri said. The budget can be found in the Road Commission packet. It was unanimously approved with little discussion following two work sessions earlier this fall.
“When these two themes are combined into a 2011 budget, we have provided a worst-case estimate of how the agency will financially close out 2011,” he said. “This snapshot includes many known expenditures and many rough estimates, so l try to not overreact to this first budget projection for 2011.”
There are five areas from which the Road Commission receives revenue: Michigan Transportation Funds, federal and state funds, state trunkline maintenance funds, township contributions and other contributions.
The 2011 budget estimates $15.5 million in Michigan Transportation Fund revenue, down 3 percent from 2010, said Dan Ackerman, finance director.
Donald Heller of Webster Township will retire next week as a Washtenaw County Road Commission heavy truck driver after 26 years on the job. He was a given a plaque in appreciation of his years of service at the Road Commission meeting Thursday afternoon by, from left, Doug Fuller, David Rutledge and Fred Veigel.
Lisa Allmendinger | AnnArbor.com
Federal and state funds are estimated at about $7.35 million, while the 2010 anticipated revenues were about $8.3 million, he said. Trunkline maintenance, a contract with the Michigan Department of Transportation, is budgeted for $2.37 million.
Township contributions for road work are expected to decrease in 2011 and are budgeted at $2.079 million. Other contributions from outside entities are expected to be about $2.15 million and there is other income of $710,000, Ackerman said.
The proposed budget shows estimates of $30.2 million in revenue and about $32.5 million in expenses. The Road Commission has been spending down its fund balance the past two years, Puuri said, and that's a trend that can't continue. There should be at least $4.5 million in reserves for operations, according to the Road Commission's auditor.
There is a projected 2011 fund balance of about $5.7 million, a reduction of $2.3 million from 2010.
Jim Harmon, director of operations, said that $325,000 has been allocated for equipment purchases in the 2011 budget.
It’s anticipated that health-care costs will increase by 12 percent. There will be a 9 percent increase in retirement costs, no wage increases and a continued hiring freeze. The Road Commission has reduced its staff from 150 to 132 employees in recent years.
Lisa Allmendinger is a reporter for AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com.
Comments
russellr
Sat, Dec 11, 2010 : 10:35 p.m.
I have an idea, maybe if Scio Township would let some of these businesses come in on Jackson Rd instead of making it so difficult for them that nobody wants to come in. They could take that tax base and use some of it for the road commision.
zip the cat
Sat, Dec 11, 2010 : 6:54 p.m.
Maybe they could sell a few dozen of the pick-up trucks they let ALL there foreman and big shooters drive home every night on taxpayers dime. There priorities are all wrong. They think it business as usual to purchase new p/u's over road maintenance.
DBlaine
Sat, Dec 11, 2010 : 2:15 p.m.
We really need to loose defined benefit plans for union workers.
jondhall
Sat, Dec 11, 2010 : 1:10 p.m.
Lose the defined benefit program! Cut pay public workers are paid too much compared to the private sector. That's a start!
Ignatz
Sat, Dec 11, 2010 : 11:26 a.m.
I have a better idea. Let's get rid of all the cheapskate taxpayers who think that public service should be public slavery. Unions are only as powerful as management and those who bargain for the contract let them be.
walker101
Sat, Dec 11, 2010 : 10:28 a.m.
Unions are too involved with the political power they seek, when unions throughout the country spend $2 billion dollars in last election for a losing cause, they really need to help those employees that are out of jobs. Eventually they will be a thing of the past, Federal regulations and laws will eventually eliminate the need of unions other than for political purposes which will be very limited due to the loss of memberships. Yes, at one time they were needed but that hasn't been the case for years, as you can see just in the auto industry they've been virtually left almost nothing, give it another 10 years and they'' be history.
jcj
Sat, Dec 11, 2010 : 9:27 a.m.
While I believe it is in the best interest of most unions to look at the economic times realistically and make SOME concessions. It is NOT in the public's best interest to Bust all unions! Because who is the "public"? It was my father, your brother, a mother or a daughter. And we ALL either have or have had a loved one or a friend that belonged to a union. To have a desire to bust all unions is very short sighted. If you know anything about unions you know that most were started because the workers were taken advantage of. Most of those that want to bust the unions are hypocrites. How many of you would chastise China or any other country for how they take advantage of their young workforce? How many of you refuse to shop at Walmart because it is not politically correct? Do a little research into how workers were treated before unions. And then tell us you would like your children or grandchildren to go back to those conditions. And how many of the union busters would prefer that their college loan be forgiven? Or their child's loan be forgiven. And that would be fine with them but NO different from a county worker getting what appears to be a free ride. There are advocates of union busting that would NOT have what they have had not one of their parents belonged to a union. The bottom line is unions need to realize that they can not continue to get everything without giving up something. That might mean less workers or less paid days off. And the union buster's need to realize that the unions played a bigger role than anything else in raising the standard of living in this country for EVERYONE!
stunhsif
Sat, Dec 11, 2010 : 1:15 a.m.
A 2 million dollar deficit and that is based on a "not too bad a winter". This is a no-brainer! Bust the unions you ding dongs! Why on our Gods green earth do we give these ridiculous benefits to the city employees? I read the contract all 160 pages plus. All these accrued vacation days, sick days, personal days, holidays, arbitration paid by the taxpayers etc. Wake up voters, pull your heads out of the clouds.
bruno_uno
Fri, Dec 10, 2010 : 10:30 p.m.
150 down to 132 employees, great PR unions, let me guess, all of these were retirees and job re-allocations.