A Tough Day

The biggest issue we are dealing with right now is still the budget. Revenue from the State of Idaho, such as sales tax dollars that are shared with the counties, is way down. The current year's budget and spending are in pretty good shape now that cuts have been made, but on Friday, we met with the Auditor’s office and faced trying to find more than $3 million worth of additional cuts to make in the proposed fiscal year 2010 budget.

The Sheriff and the Prosecuting Attorney were at the big budget meeting. Even their vitally important departments will feel the pain of budget cuts. We are asking all Ada County department heads and elected officials to find additional reductions they can make in proposed budgets, while shielding statutorily mandated functions, and protecting public health and safety. Tough choices are having to be made, but we will all get the job done.