There's a big gap between the money in Lawrence County's general fund budget and the money requested late last year by county officeholders. A very big gap.

The Lawrence County Budget Commission has certified that the county's 2003 revenue will be $9,582,110. Adding that figure with a $947,039 carryover from 2002 means the county's general fund for the new year will be $10,529,149. That figure is approximately $1,072,042 less than the $11,601,191 that county officeholders have requested to spend in the coming year.

The Lawrence County Commission has asked the county budget commission to take a second look at the county's revenues, hoping some money can be found that is not already accounted for. They're also asking each department or officeholder to review the requests for finances they made last last year, in hopes of making ends meet.

"We're encouraging each officeholder to be very conservative with expenditures," Commissioner Jason Stephens said. "I think it's important we communicate what our situation is. Each department sends in a request for the amount they want; our job is to put together a budget for everyone."

Stephens said the county's revenues have risen only slightly over the last several years, while some costs have risen. The county's major sources of revenue are sales and property taxes and Local Government Fund monies the state passes along.

Commissioner Doug Malone said he hopes that some officeholders may have monies in their budget that could be shifted to the general fund to help bridge the gap. Like Stephens, he is hoping that the budget commission will take a second look and find money they didn't find before.

"There may be funds in various areas we might be able to pull," Malone said. "I want to know if it's (the certification) exact or if there's more money the budget commission can find for us. We just want to wait before making any decisions on how bug a cut we'll have to make, to see if there's anything out there that we've missed. That could help us a lot in deciding what we have to cut."

In an attempt to balance the state's budget, Gov. Bob Taft has proposed cutting $30 million from the Local Government Fund. But the state house of representatives restored the money when the proposal was considered in that chamber. The matter is now under consideration in the senate.