BY MARK SCHUMANN

During budget negotiations last summer, Sheriff Deryl Loar was asked by the County Commission to trim $1.2 million from his department’s spending.  In an effort to meet the Commission’s request, Loar proposed that the purchase of much needed replacement patrol cars be paid for, not out of general fund revenues, by with a portion of the optional one cent sales tax.

Uncertain of the trajectory of the local economy, commissioners asked Loar to table his request.  Short of making a firm commitment, they told the Sheriff that once they had a clearer sense of the county’s likely income from the optional once cent sales tax for the 2012-2013 budget year, they would agree to reconsider.

Keep in mind this entire conversation took place in public, on camera and during the election season.  Yet, apparently clueless of these facts, an editorial appearing in the April 14 issue of the Press Journal accused the Sheriff of playing politics with his budget.

Seemingly unaware that the Sheriff and the Commission had agreed to a follow up conversation later in the year, the editorial said it was “unsettling” to see the Sheriff make the mid-year request for supplemental funding.

Ironically, the crux of the Press Journal’s argument was pinned on sole dissenter Commissioner Bob Solari, who said he was surprised the Sheriff asked the Commission to reconsider the need for new patrol cars, many of which have been on the road two years beyond their expected useful life.

What is “unsettling” is not the Sheriff’s desire to see his deputies equipped with reliable patrol cars, but the Commission’s unwillingness to raise the tax revenue needed to fund local government.

While bragging about freezing the millage rate in the face of declining property values, the Commission has put the county in a position where it must draw nearly $2 million from reserves simply to pay for general fund expenses.

It is fiscally conservative to hold down millage rates as revenues plummet?  Is it responsible to spend saving rather than cutting expenses or raising revenues?

When Solari and his fellow Commissioners pass a truly balanced budget, one that does not mask deficit spending by drawing on reserves, then they can claim to be true conservatives.