Rock Island County Administrator, Dave Ross, is happy with employees who erased a 1.3 million dollar deficit from last year's budget. So happy that he included a smiley face :) in his email announcing the good news.
At the end of Rock Island County's fiscal year in November, the general fund showed a surplus of 74,000 dollars instead of the expected shortfall. Ross, says most of the cuts came from not filling vacant jobs.
Ross says this year, the county is implementing new programs to bring in money. For example, Rock Island County has contracted with Commerce Bank to distribute payments to vendors.
County departments have also switched to black and white printing whenever possible, and printing on both sides.
Ross says everyone worked very hard to "buckle down" and save 1.3 million dollars. And that will continue this year, especially since Illinois is so far behind on paying its bills.