WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and SportsResidents weigh in on county budget

Residents weigh in on county budget

Eau Claire County (WQOW) - Taxpayers weigh in on Eau Claire County's 2010 budget.

The county held a public forum Tuesday night. It's scheduled to pass the budget by Thursday. The county needs to cut $2.25 million to even out the budget. Proposed cuts include employee furloughs, increasing the tax levy and closing county facilities for a few days before the end of the year.

People from many programs the county supports spoke Tuesday night. Many let the county know they're thankful for the money they are receiving. Eau Claire residents also spoke, in the hopes that many programs won't get cut.

"We never know what's going to happen during that last spot when they're going through the whole budget and things are x-ed out trying to make a really tough budget match in today's economy, so that's why we're here today to just really show that this program is really important to a lot of families," says Kay Evanson, a family support program social worker.

The family support program helps kids who have a mental or physical handicap. She says the county currently gives $90,000 to the family support program, which is half of their funding.

The county says a decrease in sales tax revenue, increasing costs of programs and increasing health care costs are several reasons for the cuts.