STANTON, Mich. (WOOD) — Facing the prospect of costly litigation with a sitting judge, the Montcalm County Board of Commissioners backed off a plan to reduce the district court budget by tens of thousands of dollars.
In a 5-4 decision at their Monday evening meeting, commissioners dropped $75,000 in budget reductions.
This may be good news for the courts, but the county will still have to make cuts to other departments or end 2018 with less than $15,000 to pay for unexpected expenses. No additional cuts were made at Monday’s meeting, so it remains to be seen how the finances will be settled.
This is hardly the first Montcalm County has struggled with its budget. In at least 13 of the last 15 years, it has operated at a deficit. Voters have rejected tax increases. Last year, among other staffing cuts, it eliminated more than 10 positions from its sheriff’s department to save more than $771,000.
“We essentially have contract deputies now and how do you continue to cut there? Public safety is extremely important,” said Robert Clingenpeel, Montcalm County controller-administrator.
Clingenpeel came into the job in May 2016, and he was hired to clean up the mess.
“We at least have that budget in 2018 that says going forward that we can maintain this,” he said.
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