County tightens belt

Bourbon County has avoided pouring salt on the wounds of residents by successfully avoiding an increase in the mill levy.

The Bourbon County Commission will host a public hearing at 10 a.m., August 17, at the Bourbon County Courthouse, 210 S. National, for final approval of the budget which has been drastically cut in order to avoid adding to the mill levy which is already over 53 mills.

"All three commissioners made the point of saying we're having to live with less at home and we can't ask people to pay more," Bourbon County Clerk Joanne Long said. "We have to do the same too."

To keep the mill levy down, Long said the commissioners asked department heads to evaluate the remaining 2009 budget numbers in order to have more cash carryover into the 2010 budget. Long added, she was able to cut $22,000 from the election budget because there was only one election in 2009. Other areas cut included $100,000 cut by the jail because it began making its own meals at a lower cost, and a $180,000 bridge project was put on hold again.

According to Long, every department which was capable of making cuts, did so in some way. The only areas which were not cut were contracts such as ambulance service, coroner fees, and the courthouse's general fund. To help cut expenditures, Long said most employees will not be receiving raises.

Long said the 2009 budget was approved with $9.2 million in expenditures and has now been cut down to $8.76 million. Long added, the county was able to cut a total of $900,000 in expenditures between the 2009 and 2010 budgets.

"We're pretty proud of it, we just hope nothing goes wrong and we can live within it," Long said.