Readers….

Before we give you details about budget decreases and personnel loss, we want them to be as accurate as possible. We really want to just give you the final word…the numbers and fall-out from the revised budget that has yet to be finalized and adopted.

We know you are hearing that deputies and emergency personnel, as well as jailers, secretaries, dispatchers and custodian salaries have been reduced or removed from the budget. And some of that is true. The sheriffs department shut off their blackberries. One deputy was given notice. Area Plan will no longer have a secretary.

But the final outcome will depend upon in part what the commissioners do with county assets and how council members cope with other potential income sources.

Council members are keeping a lot of balls in the air at once right now. We don't know exactly which ones will drop and which will stay up.

Not much is written in stone. Although council members voted on some issues, nothing is a done deal until the revised budget is adopted.

So, the Comet is staying away from giving you numbers. We think you deserve the facts and not the chaos. When we know them, you will know them.