Balancing Hamilton County's $250 million general-fund budget next year might require deep cuts in all county departments, and the county's top administrator is asking his supervisors to sharpen their knives.

        County Administrator Dave Krings sent an e-mail to all county departments last week asking them to eliminate 15 percent of their budget requests for next year. Mr. Krings and his staff are collecting next year's budget requests from all county departments so they can create a 2003 balanced budget by the end of December.

        The overall county budget is more than $2 billion, but most taxpayer services are paid out of the general fund. The request for cuts is a “contingency,” said Assistant County Administrator Eric Stuckey.

        “We're just asking them to give us their best thinking that gives us options for making the budget work,” he said. “We're not looking at across-the-board cuts.”

        The request smacked of hypocrisy to County Auditor Dusty Rhodes.

        “It takes a world of nerve to continue expanding the size of county government by buying buildings and filling them with public employees on one hand, and on the other asking elected officials to present budgets with dramatic decreases,” Mr. Rhodes said.

        The county recently spent more than $4 million on a new building which will be partially used by the public works department. The county also awarded “economic development” grants for a skateboard event, a jazz festival and a college football game.

        Mr. Rhodes said he runs a lean department and has used years of attrition to bring down the number of employees in his office from about 180 to 135.

        “I can't speak for other elected officials, but I am sure you are aware of the basic and statutorily required services our office provides for the entire county,” Mr. Rhodes wrote in an Aug. 9 letter to Mr. Krings. “It is not hard to imagine our ability to pay the county's bills (being) seriously impaired with extreme reductions in our ... budget.”

        County administrators asked department heads for a 20 percent reduction to their budgets last year, saying that “draconian” cuts would be necessary if either of two special tax levies failed. The levies passed, making the cuts unnecessary.

        This year some of the county's biggest money makers — sales tax revenue, fees and fines — are bringing in less money than last year.

        Mr. Stuckey said the request is not hypocritical.

        “The commissioners have made a number of decisions, and Mr. Rhodes is only looking at one or two,” he said.

        “Commissioners have made other policy choices that cost money today but will be of long-term benefit to the county.”

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