Kent County Levy Court budget process: your tax dollars hard at work

Every August Kent County Levy Court begins the process of preparing the following year’s budget. By February and early March we are beginning to wind down because April is our deadline for approving the budget for the next fiscal year.

In the next few paragraphs I have attempted to share with you exactly how the process works.

It is important to keep in mind that the budget is 10 months in the preparation stage and anything that transpires after the last week of April, in a negative way, becomes a serious challenge for your county government. We know that our local elected officials at the State level understand our plight but many others in the General Assembly may not.

By mandate of the Delaware code, Kent County, along with Delaware’s other two counties, must adopt an operating budget each year to anticipate its operating costs and allowances for expenditures.

The Kent County Levy Court’s fiscal year begins July 1 of each year and ends June 30 of the following year. Kent County’s operating budget is made possible by the collection of property taxes, fees for services and grants. The process of preparing the next budget begins soon after the current year budget is adopted and requires a host of people, tasks, review and deadlines to create a spending plan that is in the best interest of Kent County and its citizens for the smooth efficient, and effective operation of our County Government.

Major budget areas: general fund and sewer fund

The Kent County budget is comprised of 12 funds with the two major funds for the matter of spending being the General Fund and the Sewer Fund.

As indicated by its name, the Sewer Fund is responsible for the costs incurred with the maintenance and operation of the Wastewater Treatment Plant, pump stations, and sewer systems.

The General Fund budget which is comprised of five major departments (Administration, Finance, Community Services, Planning Services and Public Safety and six Row Offices (Recorder of Deeds, Register of Wills, Sheriff, Clerk of Peace, Comptroller, and Receiver of Taxes) is responsible for the providing general governmental services to the citizens of Kent County.

Searching for savings

In September of each year, the Departments are provided with the next year’s budget submission instructions and budget forms, which are due at the end of October. During November, December, and January, Budget Analyst Debora Elders, Finance Director Susan Durham, and County Administrator Michael Petit de Mange meet with the departments to review their requests to see where dollars can be saved in each line of their respective budget requests. Also overlapping during this time is the review and preparation of the proposed Sewer Fund budget as it is submitted to the Sewer Advisory Board in early January.

Upon the completion of meeting with the Departments, there is much work behind the scenes that must be completed for preparation of the actual documents that are presented to the Levy Court for review and adoption. The Finance Department provides this valuable service of calculating personnel costs, insurance costs, indirect costs and other such items as are needed for the final projected costs to each Department.

The Sewer Fund Budget is presented to the Levy Court in February and the “County Administrator’s Budget” which includes the County Administrator’s recommendations based on the meetings with the Departments and the projections from the Finance Department, is presented to the Levy Court March 1, with resolutions, public hearings and adoption taking place in April to meet the State required May 1 deadline.

The budget process although long and detailed is evidence of the hard work and dedication of Kent County Levy Court’s staff, Row Officers, and Levy Court Commissioners to insure that Kent County’s financial future will be secure and that the state of the National economy will not trickle down further than necessary to the citizens of Kent County as they balance their living costs in the heart of Delaware.