Auditor highlighting county budget problems

Hamilton County is close to another budget crisis and Auditor Dusty Rhodes is making sure the public knows about it. The county's reserve fund -- the equivalent of a savings account-- is expected to be drained nearly dry by the end of the year.

"The projected ending balance is $0.5 million, or 0.2 percent of ongoing expenditures," according to a county memo.

Rhodes, is keeping track of the dwindling balance on his Web site (note the fund balance in red on the right.)

As we noted in a sidebar to this story on the impact of the housing slump, the problem stems from a revenues falling even shorter than expected this year. This comes after the county cut just about everything it could cut to close a $35 million 2008 budget gap. The county sent a letter to department heads this week informing them of the situation.