Cecil County Council Members expressed their expectation for reduced spending in fiscal 2016 while discussing budget adjustments for the current fiscal year. As reported by the Cecil Whig,

The County Council took a critical look Tuesday morning at about $1.2 million in county department expenses above budgeted amounts for the fiscal year that ends June 30.

The expenses are part of a mid-year budget amendment request presented during Tuesday morning’s work session that actually netted out to be $200,000 in additional spending, after County Finance Director Winston Robinson suggested the county has extra money in its debt service fund that could cover a majority of the expenses.

However, three council members signaled that they will be expecting an effort to decrease expenses for fiscal year 2016 by county departments.

County Executive Tari Moore has already indicated that she has requested departments put together conservative budget requests for fiscal 2016.

The article indicates that  budget adjustments for the current year are attributed to utility costs, vehicle repairs and snow removal.

Robinson’s presentation included a long list of budget transfers from various departments to cover unanticipated expenses at the mid-year point.

He attributed the bulk of the increases to increased water, sewer, electric and natural gas rates; as well as unusually high vehicle repair bills in the Department of Public Works.

Snow removal costs is another culprit, yet one that the council seemed to understand.

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Director Scott Flanigan told the council that $400,000 was budgeted in this account, but the department has already spent $732,000 and need an additional $140,000 to replenish the salt barns.

Flanigan explained that money was taken from other DPW accounts and put into the snow account.

“This request seeks to reimburse those accounts,” he said.