(VIDEO) SCPR SERIES ON 2014 STARK CO. BUDGET - VOLUME NO. 4

VIDEO

STARK CO. BUDGET DIRECTOR

CHRIS NICHOLS

SEGMENT 4

PROJECTED 40%
CASH FLOW DECLINE

As "a public service" the SCPR brings to everyday Stark Countians a multi-part series (eight blogs in all) on the "proposed" (see disclaimer in graphic above) 2014 Stark County budget.

Today, The Report presents Volume 4 of Stark County Commissioners' Budget Director Chris Nichols' 2014 Stark County "proposed" budget.

Readers of this blog to get a full appreciation of Nichols' presentation should make sure that they have read prior blogs in order as listed below:

1. Volume 1
2. Volume 2 
3. Volume 3

In Volume 1, Commissioner Thomas Bernabei appears in the video and outlines the four (4) guidelines that he and fellow commissioners Janet Creighton and Richard Regula laid out to Nichols in formulating the 2014 budget, to wit:

1. The county must live within its means,
2. New revenue for the year must support the operation budget of the county through 2019,
3. Carry-over funds cannot be used to fund the day-to-day operations of government,
4. He must build a 2014 budget that forms a viable base on which budgets through 2019 can be realistically projected as being "sustainable budgets

In video segment 4 Nichols focuses on cash flow.

Why cash flow?

In 2014 Stark County has about $10.5 million in carry-over from 2013.

By the time the county gets to 2018, the carry over is down to about $6 million.

The dissipation means that because there are increases in annual budgetary expenditures not offset by proportional increases in revenues, the county has to dip into that original $10.5 million to make up the difference which means that the county is running more of a risk that in the case of a calamity of some sort the county is less prepared to meet an emergency need.

• SCPR Note:  The Report has taken the liberty to:
• add in to Nichols' chart red (for increased expenditures) dotted horizontal lines with red vertical lines to show graphically the approximate double rate of increased expenditures over increased revenues for the time span 2014 through 2018 to show the precarious state that Stark County government finances are

If the decline becomes even greater because of even a slight error in Nichols' assumption, there is the possibility (the SCPR's view; not one expressed by Nichols) that the county could get itself into a "rob Peter to pay Paul" situation.  In other words, living "hand to mouth" throughout a given budgetary year as the sales tax cycle (ending in 2019) closes out.

Follow along with Chris Nichols' excellent presentation in his own words: