The Leelanau County Board of Commissioner this week held the first in a series of "budget work sessions" that will eventually lead to adoption this fall of a budget for the new fiscal year beginning Jan. 1, 2008.

The full board – minus District No. 7 commissioner Melinda Lautner, who was absent – met for nearly six hours on Monday to begin reviewing a four-inch thick binder containing details of a proposed budget for next year.

The preliminary budget proposal under discussion this week estimated overall county revenues at $12.7 million and expenditures at $11.9 million.

“Those figures will probably change a lot as the county board goes through the budget,” explained county administrator David Gill.

The full county board is expected to meet with county department heads next Wednesday, Aug. 15, for yet another budget work session that could last most of the day.

County department heads have already met at least seven times so far this year to work on next year’s budget, according to clerk Michelle Crocker.

With more than $800,000 in surplus revenues expected, the county board will likely consider reducing the extra-voted 1-mill tax levy that county voters narrowly approved last year, Gill said.

“But that could be the last decision the county board makes on the budget,” Gill said. “There’s quite a bit they need to figure out first in terms of expenditures before they can figure out what to do about revenues.”

Early next year, the county seat will move from Leland into a new Government Center facility now under construction in Suttons Bay Township. Exactly how much it will cost to operate the new facility is unknown. Gill explained that the county has a long budget “history” in estimating utility and maintenance costs in Leland – but only rough estimates for the new facility.

Roughly half of the last year’s extra-voted millage was set aside to support operations of the county’s 9-1-1 dispatch center, replacing a telephone surcharge that the state legislature had previously authorized.

It was hoped that the state legislature would come up with a new funding arrangement for 9-1-1 centers statewide before Leelanau County’s two-year millage expires. However, there has been little evidence of progress on that front in Lansing so far, county officials said.