Marathon County mulls which programs will face cuts amid $500,000 budget shortfall. (Wausau Daily Herald, 8/12/2011)
Excerpt: North Central Health Care's Mount View Care Center and aquatic services and Marathon County Public Library are among the programs that could be cut as the county tries to fill a $500,000 hole in its budget.
To help determine where cuts can best be made to the county's $130 million budget, County Board and administration officials recently ranked all services provided by the county. The health care center and library initially came out near the bottom again, as they did the last time the county conducted such an exercise. But during a Thursday night retreat at the county courthouse, the County Board moved up the public library from a lower priority to somewhere in the middle.
To determine the rankings, county officials considered whether a program is mandated and the consequences of eliminating it, whether a program leverages outside funding and the chances that the county could outsource it, among others.
Marathon County Administrator Brad Karger said his top priority is to look for efficiencies and save money, but he told the County Board on Thursday he's confident the county can avoid eliminating programs.
"We're in an environment where we may not have to eliminate programs, but we will have to reduce programs," he said.
Other county and municipal budget news.
City of Beloit faces a challenging budget process. (8/8/2011)
Fond du Lac city manager sez Governor's tools not enough to offset cuts. (8/2/2011)
Manitowoc mayor asks department heads for 10% budget cuts. (8/2/2011)
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