County budget likely won’t see a deficit

November 05, 2009

Despite a report in August showing Valencia County could have a $1.2-million deficit starting with the new fiscal year in July 2010, the county’s chief financial analyst told commissioners last night he no longer expects that.

“I read the newspapers and I watch TV like everyone else and I hear all the bad news,” Larry Trussell said. “So I feel a little strange coming up here and I don’t have any bad news. I feel like I should.”

He said while revenues remain weak, even after a brief boom in construction permits over the summer, he expects the county will begin next fiscal year stable.

“Building permits are up and that’s encouraging news,” he said.

The rise in permitting was attributed mostly to summertime construction by D.R. Horton in Tome Vista near El Cerro Mission. The county was seeing two to six permits per month early this year. In July, the number hit 50.

“We did see a spike in the summer. It has tapered off and looks like it’ll settle in at around 10 permits per month,” County Manager Eric Zamora said.

In total, the county has brought in $116,000 more in revenue than at the same time last year.

Gross receipts tax revenue is down around 2.5 percent. Fees are up, including motor vehicle fees.

“I would think the reason for that is the Cash for Clunkers program, which I think provided some real incentives,” Trussell said.

Property taxes are trickling in, with county property owners receiving their property tax bills this week.

“As a percentage of the budget, we’re way down because of property taxes,” he said.

Trussell said the best news is that the county will be able to remove a couple high-budgeted items, like the former Valencia County Landfill closure, from next year’s budget, providing a financial boost to the county.

“Most of that $1.5-million deficit, or whatever the number was, probably will not materialize,” he said. “So I think we’ll be OK. It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen because of the fact we don’t have to budget those one-time items again.”

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