By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Board of Reno County Commissioners Chairman Ron Hirst had some cautionary comments at the meeting Tuesday.
"People probably don't like to hear this, but I have a feeling that in our rush to go below revenue neutral, we may not have realized what the effect of printing money has upon inflation that is occurring right now," Hirst said. "I think we misunderstood, or didn't take a look, or maybe we did, the amount and the rapid increase in inflation that's occurring. I hope that it is over with in six months."
Hutchinson City Manager Jeff Cantrell also notes that the amount of inflation that will last remains to be seen.
"That's a factor that we're always mindful of," Cantrell said. "It's something that we try to protect ourselves from in the budgeting process when we do our projections and our modeling. It's certainly unknown. If I knew the answer to that, I'd probably be in a different line of work in a warmer state."
Hirst is looking ahead to some potential tough decisions in future years if inflation continues at its current pace.
"Inflation could really hit us hard," Hirst said. "We'll survive 2022, but it's the next budget year that I am concerned with, should inflation continue its ugly head at 5% or 4% or 3% or whatever. I just want the public to know that we may need to know what they want for services, for sure. This isn't something we like to talk about."
County Commissioner Ron Sellers has said before that tough budget decisions having more voices as a part of them is a reason he is a proponent of expanding the Board of County Commissioners from three to five members.