County budget horror stories give us a scare

Want to read a really scary story for Halloween?

Don’t go to the horror department in the bookstore.

Instead, check out these dreadful tales from local county board rooms:

n Lee County is facing a proposed $1.5 million budget shortfall, which Finance Committee Chairman Rick Ketchum called “a really scary deficit budget.”

n Whiteside County’s proposed budget deficit is $1.1 million, an appalling prospect that must have the county’s fiscal watchdogs howling.

n In Ogle County, a budgetary Grim Reaper will slash his way through the sheriff’s domain, cutting 17 full-time and eight part-time jobs to save more than $1 million. Dwindling revenues are forcing the county to cut $1.8 million from its overall budget.

These are spooky times for county government.

What’s even scarier? Boards can dip into their landfill reserves for only so long before that money runs low, too.

And if elected officials and county board members think they can go trick-or-treating at taxpayers’ doorsteps for more financial handouts, forget it.

Wary residents are in no mood to open the door. They remember all too well the free-spending ways of county governments. Instead of saving for a rainy day, in recent years, county boards spent millions on new structures or to refurbish existing ones.

We urge elected officials, board members and department heads to get a grip on themselves. Keep looking for ways to trim spending throughout the budget year that starts Dec. 1. It will take creative thinking and nimble management to impose fiscal responsibility.

The alternative, as Mr. Ketchum observed, is “really scary.”

Unfortunately for them, county leaders can’t escape this horror story.

They’re in it.