Macomb, IL – The McDonough County Board has adopted an unbalanced budget for next year.
Board finance committee chair Alice Henry says she does not foresee any additional income next year, and the county has some more expenses due in part to increased contributions to the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund -- a problem she says is common statewide.
Sales tax revenues are also down about 10 percent compared to this time last year.
To help balance the budget, Henry says the county will likely dip into its cash reserves. Right now there's enough money to fund operations for about 4.5 months. Henry projects that number to dip to 3.5 months. That translates to about $1.2 million.
Despite the shortfalls, Henry does not anticipate any layoffs or service cutbacks. But, she says county offices will need to do some belt tightening.
"We ask all of the officeholders, and anyone preparing a budget, to figure employee raises from their existing budget," says Henry. "So really we ask them to cut their budget three percent."
Henry says the Consumer Price Index only allows a small levy increase. She says it's about a 0.1 percent hike over last year's rate, which will net the county about $4.45 million. That's compared to $4.39 million last year.
The new fiscal year begins Dec. 1.