As the Pulaski County Council works to avert a $2.7 million deficit that’s projected to develop over the coming years, members want to meet with department heads to discuss potential budget cuts. During last week’s regular meeting, council members spent over 20 minutes trying to schedule a round of preliminary budget meetings, before the usual budget discussions in August.
Auditor Laura Wheeler had presented a proposed schedule, in which council members would meet with a few of the largest departments, but Council Member Kathi Thompson felt it was important to meet with every department head. “We cannot sit as a council and start whipping money out of people’s budgets because we need to meet a marker,” Thompson said. “The department heads have to be involved every step of the way. If we have to cut people, if we have to cut benefits, that has to come at the August budget meeting, and we can’t do that if we’ve not met with everyone in June or July.”
However, finding times when the majority of council members could be available proved to be a challenge. Council Member Ken Boswell suggested simply sending a message to department heads asking them to think about where they want to cut, before meeting face-to-face at the regular budget meeting in August.
But Thompson felt it was important to have those initial discussions in-person. “For example, the Sheriff’s Department may be able to work with other departments and get some economies of scale going,” she said. “We need to start those talks now, not in August.”
Council members were not able to agree on specific dates last week, but did decide to hold five evening meetings between now and August 22, although some members felt they could get it done with three.
