BENSON -- The Swift County Board of Commissioners set the 2007 county budget at the regular meeting Thursday.
The budget includes $16,652,000 in expenditures and $16,236,000 in revenues, for a $416,000 deficit, according to Byron Giese, county auditor.
In setting the budget, the board eliminated funding for the county administrator position. The position was left vacant in November when County Administrator John Chattin resigned and became the administrator for the city of Bemidji. Chattin had been the county administrator since October 2001. For the past three years, he had also been the administrator for Yellow Medicine County.
The board will approve the final property tax levy at the Dec. 19 meeting. The levy will be $6,494,486, which is a 12 percent increase, or $602,474 more in taxes to be paid by county property owners.
Giese and the Auditor's Office staff took over the administrator's duties after Chattin's departure and will continue to do so, he said. Giese has proposed salary adjustments for the auditor's staff, which were taken under advisement until the Dec. 19 board meeting.
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He expects that he and two staff members will be able to handle the administrator's work.
"We will do it," he said. "When we can no longer do it, we will tell the board."
The deficit of $416,000 is proposed to come from the county's working capital funds. Giese expects the deficit to be less than the proposed amount, noting that this year's deficit was proposed at $384,000, but he expects final numbers to show about a $100,000 deficit.
The board also heard requests from the county Rural Development and Housing and Redevelopment boards that the positions of the Rural Development Authority director and Housing and Redevelopment Authority director become county jobs.
The job descriptions will be forwarded to the company that classifies positions for the county, Giese said. Both directors were previously employed by their boards.
