ALPENA — The Alpena County Board of Commissioners is expected to vote on Tuesday to advance the county’s 2020 budget, with its projected nearly $1 million deficit, but it will do so without a recommendation from its Finance Committee.

On Wednesday, the committee split 2-2 on a motion to recommend putting the budget on display, with some last-minute changes added. The motion failed without a majority.

Commissioners Marty Thomson and Bill Peterson voted for the motion, while Brenda Fournier and John Kowzlowski voted against it. It will now be up to all eight commissioners to either move forward with the budget or not.

The budget has to be on display for public comment for at least two weeks before it can be adopted, which is expected to be done at the board’s Nov. 26 meeting.

The $10.2 million budget presented to the committee shows the county would begin the 2020 fiscal year with a $984,781 shortfall, which could climb more after adjustments are made to the budget before Tuesday. The county had a very healthy $4.8 million in unreserved fund balance, or cash savings, at the beginning of 2019, which provides a little cushion should unexpected expenses arise. The county can use that cash to cover the gap between revenue and expenses.

The shortfall was projected to be significantly higher, but the board voted to make changes to the county’s health care and pension systems, which officials believe will eventually save the county money and lower its yearly pension obligations.

Kozlowski said that, since the board voted to make those changes, he has talked to employees and reviewed the new plans in more depth. He said he doesn’t believe the savings will be as great as told and there is growing concern from affected employees.

Non-union workers are not subject to the proposed changes.

“After looking at this and talking to employees, I believe the benefit that we expected will not be there the way we want it too,” Kozlowski said. “I think some decisions were made on shortsightedness and I have concerns about them. The size of this deficit is a concern, a huge one, and I feel we are going 90 miles an hour and now we need to take a quick turn, but there is too much momentum, and we can’t stop.”

Fournier said she believes there were some areas in the proposed budget that could have been cut and money from the Airport Fund and Tax Revolving funds that could have been utilized to further shrink the general fund shortfall. She said budget meetings didn’t go smoothly and it seemed to her some of the commissioners didn’t want to make the difficult decisions that needed to be made.

Fournier said each department cut 3% from it proposed budgets, but she believes they should have been asked to cut 5% or more. She said all of the commissioners had been told by Treasurer Kim Ludlow they should not kick the can down the road and to focus on lowering the deficit, because, although the county was able to make up all or most of past years’ shortfalls, that may not be the case next fiscal year.

A municipality is able to operate with a deficit budget as long as it has enough in savings to cover the gap.

“I feel like we dropped the ball,” Fournier said. “I don’t see how we will be able to make up $1 million and come out ahead. I’m concerned the deficit will be even higher in 2021. I hate to say it, but I see a tornado coming.”

Peterson said small cuts to the budget are not going to make a huge difference to the large deficit. He said taking action on health care and reducing the retirement obligation are things that need to be addressed to lower the deficit.

“We’re not going to get there by cutting the amount of pencils, erasers, and paperclips we use,” Peterson said. “Our employees are our biggest asset, but also our biggest expense, and we’re doing everything we can to save the county money, but still keep our workers.”

The full board will meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Howard Male Conference Room in the county’s annex building. This meeting is open to the public and comment is welcome.

CORRECTION: The Alpena County Board of Commissioners meets at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. The time was incorrect in an earlier version of this story.