McHenry County cuts budget to remain financially healthy

Like many of the constituents its serves, the McHenry County Board is making plans to cut back on spending next year as the economy hurtles toward a seemingly inevitable recession.

Board members Tuesday voted 22-2 in favor of a $243 million budget for the 2009 fiscal year that calls for $28 million less spending than under the prior year's budget.

Much of the spending decline comes as a result of money spent this year from a $50 million bond issue funding road construction. But the board slashed another $1.8 million in other areas to keep next year's budget balanced.

Those cuts are expected to equal revenue losses the county anticipates next year because of a significant drop in building permits, real estate transfer fees, sales taxes and federal funding.

The savings stem from dozens of small cost-cutting measures, including a reduction in employee merit pay raises from 4 to 3 percent, adding only six new staff positions while freezing some job vacancies and reducing energy usage, said Ralph Sarbaugh, associate county administrator for finance.

"We looked at a lot of areas and took out what we could," Sarbaugh said.

"Everybody has worked with us to get to this point."

The board also curbed the amount of new spending allotted to county departments through its supplemental budget process. The 2009 budget grants just $500,000 in supplemental budget requests, down from $3 million in 2007.

Marc Munaretto, chairman of the board's Finance and Audit Review Committee, said the belt-tightening will allow the county to weather the economic downturn without dipping into a five-month cash reserve that is the cornerstone of its financial strength.

"It demonstrates the ongoing political will to keep balancing our budget with the revenues we receive," Munaretto said. "We're not about to abandon the principles that have allowed us to become one of the healthiest units of government in the state of Illinois."