Las Animas County right on budget 

by Bill Knowles
TRINIDAD — Hitting the midpoint in expenditures for the year, the Las Animas County Board of County Commissioners heard from 12 department heads for a mid-year budget review.  They offered praise and advice to the dozen supervisors who actually oversee the spending of taxpayer generated funds.
“We have spent, on average, fifty percent of our general fund budget through June 30 of this year,” County Administrator Leann Fabec said.  Even though spending in some departments was higher then the average 50 percent, due mainly to the payment of yearly dues or contract fees, other departments have been holding the line by not filling vacancies in staff.
The Clerk and Recorders office, for example, is down one employee as is the Assessorʼs office.  The Road and Bridge department is down one or two employees as well.
The Administratorʼs office is still holding $45,000, a sum that canʼt be spent on other line items, for payment on contractual services.  In discussion, both offices were concerned the funds might not be enough to pay for various services from copier contracts to computer services.
Overdoses are down in Las Animas County, only 25 so far this year, and the Coroner reported his officeʼs expenditures were under budget by ten percent.  “The increased survival from overdosing can be attributed to good response times by EMS crews.  However weʼve noticed an increase in oxycodone overdoses over heroin.  Oxycodone is easier to get.” said LAC Coroner Dominic Verquer.
One of the bigger spenders in the county is the Road and Bridge Department.  However the department has spent just 40 percent of its 2015 budget leaving 60 percent in the general fund at the halfway point of the year.  “We still have one or two vacancies in the department to fill,” said department head Phil Dorenkamp.
A good deal of funding used by the Road and Bridge department is attached to grant funding that comes in from the state, the Department of Local Affairs, and the USDA.  Funds from the department can then be used to match grant funding or for in-kind matches for county projects.
Further discussion between Dorenkamp and  Fabec concerned ways to further itemize funding by project in an effort to better keep track of expenditures.
Accounting found itself over-budgeted with spending from the general fund driven by lease purchases it paid out in March of this year.  One outstanding bill is payment for the 2014 audit.
The Sheriffʼs Office has spent 55 percent of its general fund budget. “We are running on a “bare bones” budget now,” Sheriff James Casias told the commissioners.  Telephone bills are up with deputies using them more as radio use is limited in the outlands of the county.
Other expenditures listed were unanticipated overtime payments.  Travel and transportation expenditures were also up.  However jail expenditures were down to just 45 percent of budget due mainly to understaffing at the detention facility.  Food expenditures were down but medical spending was up for the first half of the year.
“Overall the county is in good shape heading into the second half of the year,” said Fabec.  The kicker is going to be the 2016 budget.  With revenues predicted to fall, expenditures will have to be cut unless something can be done.