Crook County Plans More With Less

By Scott R. Cooper, Crook County Judge
Published in the Central Oregonian, April 2003

As the county moves toward finalizing its 2003-04 budget, a number of initiatives are in the wings which have the potential to affect citizens countywide. This month’s column focuses on a few of those initiatives.

First, the budget: although the final numbers won’t be known until the legislature adjourns, Crook County is already projecting a leaner government next year. This is in large part due to an anticipated shortfall of $1.7 million in state and federal funding, which includes support for everything from jail beds to mental health funding to alcohol and drug treatment to public health services.

Crook County’s response to this funding drought has been to tighten its belt. The budget for 2003-2004 proposes to continue most services important to our citizens, but to do so with fewer resources. In other words, we are going to do more with less.

Part of the equation is a reduction in staff. Three department-head level positions funded in the 2002-03 budget have not been refunded in 2003-04. Some full-time employees have been replaced with part-time and temporary help to reduce salary and benefits costs. No new positions are proposed, and the capital improvements budget, which provides upkeep for the county’s nine facilities, has been slashed nearly in half. Employee compensation increases are proposed at a modest 3 percent, or close to the rate of inflation, and the county’s 401K program is likewise slated to go up 3 percent. Medical benefits for employees continue at the present rate.

The county is able to continue this level of service to citizens for a couple of reasons. A primary contributor is the fact that the county, except for law enforcement personnel, does not participate in the PERS retirement system and has therefore not experienced the tremendous increases that plague other counties. In addition, county employees have done an outstanding job of managing medical expenses chargeable against the county’s insurance plan, resulting in a reasonable increase in medical insurance premium. Finally, the county has been putting aside funds and slowing the pace of government growth in anticipation of this day for the past two years.

Among the most pressing needs addressed in next year’s budget is the urgent requirement for additional jail beds. The number of prisoners released by the county due to lack of jail space has grown steadily since December 2002. Currently, an average of 9 prisoners each week are being released. Factors behind this include the pressures of continuing high unemployment and lack of state funding to cover prescription drugs used to treat mental illness. Further aggravating the problem is a potential reduction in community corrections funding from the state of Oregon next year, which will decrease the ability of the county to monitor parole and probation violators.

Anticipating that this problem is not going away, next year’s budget proposes renting an additional 8 jail beds from Jefferson County at a cost of $56 per day or $204,400 next year. That amount represents nearly one-third of the county’s total anticipated increase in property taxes next year, but the cost of jail beds is a bargain considering the social costs of allowing criminals to run loose throughout the county, and I believe the investment will pay for itself in turns of a safer community for all of us.

Another major initiative proposed in 2003-04 is the completion of the Millican-West Butte Road connection between highway 126 and highway 20 east of Bend. Last year, the county successfully approached Congress about a grant of right-of-way for this corridor. Now we need to finish it. Construction is expected to start in fall of 2003 and be complete by spring of 2004. Deschutes County commissioners have agreed informally to pay half the estimated $4 million cost of the project. Crook County’s share of this project will largely come from the proceeds of its annual federal payment in lieu of timber taxes—about $2.3 million—meaning that the entire enhancement to the transportation system can be built without impacting the balance of the county’s road fund.

A third project of significance proposed for funding in the upcoming budget is the planned opening of Tom McCall industrial park in fall 2004. Located at the corner of Tom McCall Road and Houston Lake Road, this county-owned property will offer businesses interested in relocating to Prineville an attractive location serviced by water, sewer, natural gas, fiber optic cable and an existing road system opportunity to purchase properties of 2.5-5 acres in size. The park has the added advantage of being in the county/city enterprise zone, giving would-be occupants potential property tax benefits. Selected companies may also be eligible for income tax waivers from the state of Oregon. Managed and marketed properly, the parcel should help diversify the local economy and bring badly needed jobs to the community.

All this is in addition to continuing to provide regular and expected services to Crook County citizens. Times are tough and financial management is trickier than it was even one year ago, but I’m proud to report that your county government is and intends to continue managing within its resources, however scarce. We have a job to do, and somehow, we are going to do it.