"We're certainly monitoring it very closely." — James Taylor Gaffney city administrator "People are worrying, which is really good. Because if bad things happen they'll have a plan." — Joe Newton Appalachian Council of Governments Gaffney City Administrator James Taylor hasn't officially asked department heads to tighten their belts yet, but he has been asking them to start checking if there are some belt notches they might not need.

An economic downturn that's already resulted in a $23,000 reduction in state funds coming into the city this fiscal year could impact other revenue streams as well. Taylor advised city council last week that collections of tax revenues already are falling behind last year's pace, if only by a little at the moment. There are still about eight months to go in the fiscal year.

"We're certainly monitoring it very closely," Taylor said.

A key date moving forward will be Dec. 31, when the city reaches the halfway point in its fiscal year. "We will take a real hard look at what's going on to see what real adjustments need to be made," he said.

Until then, however, Taylor said he's already been asking department heads to get ready. "I've already told them there's a possibility we might have less revenue and to start looking at nonessential line items in their budgets and save money where they can," he said.

Joe Newton, the governmental services director at the Appalachian Council of Governments (ACOG), can't say that all city or county governments in the Upstate will have to make budgetary adjustments this year because each area is unique. But he is hearing increasing concerns from across the Upstate about governmental

funding in the current economic environment.

"People are worrying, which is really good," he said. "Because if bad things happen they'll have a plan."

ACOG itself is losing several thousand dollars in state funding this year because of state budget cutbacks.

But state budget cutbacks are only part of the equation, as a downturn in the economy can impact many sources of revenue for governments, from fees and business licenses to sales taxes on everything from alcohol to fuel.

Cherokee County's new Local Option Sales Tax, which was approved during the Nov. 4 election to offset property taxes, might not offset as much property tax as anticipated if people aren't spending money when the new sales tax goes into effect next year.

One proposed line item in the City of Gaffney Police Department budget has already been put on a back burner because of ongoing reviews of the city's finances. The city's Police Committee was exploring the idea of purchasing a mobile radar sign that could be moved around the city to help stop speeding, but Taylor said he recommended that plans to purchase the device be put aside for now until the financial picture becomes clearer.

During the last council meeting, Taylor informed council that tax collections were down by about $12,000 compared to the same fourmonth period last year, while business licenses were down by about $35,000. He cautioned such figures only represented a snapshot as of Oct. 31.

City Fire Chief Nathan Ellis said he's been taking a look at his $1.89 million budget in response to Taylor's request and has been mulling over some ideas to cinch the department's belt if required.

But, overall, he said, the fire department had presented a budget devoid of things that would be considered wish-list items. "We really did try to plan out every expenditure," he said. "We try not to have any surprises."