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Halleck: Sky not falling with ‘17 budget cuts

LISBON — County Commissioner Chairman Mike Halleck is trying to calm the fears of some county department heads, who are concerned that next year’s budget is being adjusted to reflect the anticipated loss of sales tax revenue midway through 2017.

“There’ve been some office holders and departments that have a great concern about their budgets,” Halleck said. “I want to repeat, for those who may not have read it. A budget is just that. It’s a budget. It’s an estimate that the county auditor tells us as a board. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle… No one is being not funded until such time as they technically are not funded.”

Halleck said the commissioners will revisit the budget after the state budget is finalized in July and when they will have a better picture of where the county actually stands.

Halleck said in the mid ’90s, budgets were done by quarters, which also caused similar concerns for department heads. Halleck said the county will make it through this year. A draft proposed budget for 2017 reduces the amount being allocated to different departments by a total of $800,000.

Also during Wednesday’s meeting, the commissioners took the time to reflect on the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which marked the official beginning of the involvement of the United States during World War II.

Commissioner Jim Hoppel said he remembers the bombing a little.

“I remember the fuss about the bombing of Pearl Harbor,” Hoppel said, adding he was 3 years old at the time and remembered the reaction of older family members, although he did not understand what it was about at the time.

County Engineer Bert Dawson, who was also in attendance at the meeting, said he remembers the war and what it was like when people celebrated the end of the war, but not the beginning.

djohnson@mojonews.com

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