McKay, Dacey come up short in efforts to trim county spending

May 12—County Council members Steve McKay (R) and Phil Dacey (R) were again unsuccessful in convincing their colleagues to cut from County Executive Jan Gardner's (D) proposed operating budget of $717.2 million.

McKay and Dacey proposed seven amendments Tuesday, ranging from cutting additional positions in several divisions to reducing Maintenance of Effort for the county's schools by over $3 million. They also attempted to reduce the county's income tax rate from 2.96 percent to 2.86 percent, which would reduce revenues by $4.45 million.

Their amendments were an attempt to reduce the property tax rate from $1.06 per $100 of assessed value—the rate Gardner has proposed in all of her previous budgets—to $1.033. That would require about $6.7 million in cuts to the operating budget.

In prior years, Dacey and McKay had previously tried to cut from the budget to meet the constant yield rate but were unsuccessful.

They were again unsuccessful Tuesday, failing to pass amendments that totaled more than $10 million in cuts. A mini-army of county division leaders defended the need for additional positions that would be cut under the first amendment.

Their reasons varied, but common threads were the growing workload due to an increasing population, combined with the complexity of county government as it transitions to providing more of its services online and in different software systems.

Council members, as they have done the prior two budget cycles, had lengthy, nuanced debates about the need for those positions. But Dacey argued even with his cuts, the county would still add 57 full-time positions, instead of the 68 in Gardner's proposal.

"The last two years, I strongly feel as if our council has been a rubber stamp ... and I view it is our role to push back on that as much as we possibly can," Dacey said.

McKay, who backed Dacey on multiple amendments, including the first one, said he wanted to slow county government growth and government salaries.

"What I'm most concerned about coming into my third budget year here ... each year, in addition to the growth of positions, it's the addition of the growth of salary. ... It's that double whammy that is driving our nondiscretionary base budget," McKay said.

Councilman Jerry Donald (D) said cutting some positions would actually cost money in the long-term, given they were in risk management and economic development, the latter of which attracts jobs to the county.

Some Democratic members of the council also pushed back on the "rubber stamp" reference Dacey made.

Councilman Kai Hagen (D) noted not all budget appeals from county divisions were funded.

"There are a lot more requests that people feel are needed, and these are the ones that made the cut in a county that is growing," Hagen said.

Only Dacey and McKay supported the first amendment.

The other major amendment from McKay and Dacey was a proposed $3.26 million cut in Maintenance of Effort funding for the Board of Education, dropping overall funding from $330.33 million to $327.07 million.

McKay said while it was a one-of-a-kind year for the county's public schools, he wanted to see potential federal funding and how that could aid local education. He added he would be willing to come back and consider a supplemental budget, in case federal funding does not adequately meet the school system's needs.

Dacey was more critical. He said the Board of Education hasn't done a good job for its students during the coronavirus pandemic. And even with the cut, it still would be a record investment in public education in the county, he said.

It's also unclear if enrollment increases will occur given current heightened interest in public and private schools, he added.

"We do not know the long-term effects of this pandemic on schooling decisions ... we don't know how many kids are going to return to [public] schools," Dacey said.

Donald and Councilwoman Jessica Fitzwater — both teachers at county public schools — pushed back on the amendment. She said it was wrong to criticize the Board of Education and that underfunding public schools has been a historic problem, including during the last term of the Board of County Commissioners from 2010-14.

Fitzwater said investment in schools is desperately needed this year, given past years of what she called underfunding.

"We are basically barely treading water as a school system with the years of flat funding. ... This is not the year to make cuts, this is not the year to invest less in our kids," Fitzwater said.

The amendment failed 2-5, with Dacey and McKay voting yes.

A final vote on the proposed spending plan is expected in the coming weeks.

Follow Steve Bohnel on Twitter: @Steve_Bohnel