The 2011 operating budget for Summit County will be smaller than this year’s spending plan as officials aim to reduce costs.

County Manager Bob Jasper’s budget proposal for next year has fallen to roughly $46.1 million, about a million dollars less than the operating budget approved for 2010.

But Jasper’s proposed budget showed a deficit of roughly $380,000 on Wednesday.

“We’re already starting with an unbalanced budget of $380,000 for our operating,” Summit County Councilman John Hanrahan said during a meeting in Coalville. “We’re still living beyond our means, at least for next year.”

But Jasper said he believes money left over in 2010 will help fill the deficit.

“People are frugal and they manage their budget, so we’re not likely to spend our entire budget. If we don’t spend our entire budget we’ll probably balance,” Jasper said. “People will leave us and then there will be a vacancy. We might fill it at a lower salary because it’s a newer employee It’s doubtful that we will spend our entire salary budget.”

The Summit County Council, which is scheduled to approve a balanced budget Dec. 22, is faced with dueling budget proposals from Jasper, the county’s budget committee and Summit County Auditor Blake Frazier. Councilpersons said they do not intend to increase taxes.

Frazier’s budget recommendation was about $45.3 million. The proposal from the county’s budget committee was about $45.4 million.

“The auditor and the budget committee recommended a balanced budget. They’re actually ahead. The auditor’s budget recommends $130,000 surplus. The budget committee’s is roughly $71,000 surplus,” county auditor Matt Leavitt said in a telephone interview.

County Courthouse officials say they have tried to be conservative in crafting their operating budgets without impacting government services.

“We started out with $4.7 million more in requests than anticipated revenue,” Leavitt said. “The budget committee went through and visited with each department and made recommended cuts. Even to the point that there are layoffs that have been discussed.”

Eight positions could be eliminated from the county payroll next year. Last year, about four county employees lost their jobs because of budget cuts.

Budget officials say they expect revenues to drop in 2011.

Meanwhile, the county budgeted this year to receive about $15 million in property tax revenue. But Frazier said that because of tax appeals only $14.6 million may be collected in 2010.

“Our revenues are going to be slightly less than what was budgeted,” Frazier said. “We won’t hit the $15 million that was projected in 2010.”

This year the county’s general fund started in the red.

“In the current year we have a real deficit. We flat didn’t have the money. We were in the hole,” Jasper said. “To take care of this year’s problem we cleaned out a couple of funds that had been holding money for a long time that hadn’t been active. We also took quite a bit of money out of the disaster fund.”

Officials will also tap into the county’s rainy day reserves to fix this year’s shortfall, Jasper said.

“These are tough times,” he said.

Money in the general fund pays for the day-to-day operations of the government. The practice of taking money from the rainy day fund is new for the Summit County Council, which had never previously faced a budget shortfall.

“It was saved to be spent on a rainy day,” Summit County Councilwoman Sally Elliott said about the savings. “It’s raining.”

About $1 million may be needed from the fund this year to bring county spending into the black. Any withdrawal from the rainy day fund must be paid back unless county officials get the OK from voters to not replenish the account.

“We have had two years of really bad recession. That’s exactly what the fund is set up for,” Hanrahan said.

But Summit County Councilman Chris Robinson said money taken from the fund should be paid back.

“I’m not in favor of putting it to the voters,” Robinson said. “Storms come in all severities and durations Things could be worse.”

County government should not be “living off savings,” Robinson stressed.

“If they had a choice, [taxpayers] would prefer we keep intact our reserves,” he said, adding, “I would have a plan to repay so we would not have to ask the voters to make it permanent To me going to the voters is like a tax increase.”

Members of the public can speak out about the budget at public hearings scheduled Dec. 15 and 22.