 It's a storm that's been gathering for some time now, and it finally appears ready to hit. During today's fiscal court work session, county treasurer John DeBilder said the county is staring down the barrel of a $5.7 million budget deficit, and the solution maybe to finally come through with the difficult decisions the members of the court have talked about for months. When the members of the Pike Fiscal Court met this morning in a work session special meeting, the news they received was not what anyone wanted to hear, but it was exactly what had been expected for a very long time. It's something we've tried to weather for the last few years, and there's no weathering it anymore. I'm unfortunate to say unless these numbers come up. County treasurer John DeBilder said with the sharp, drastic declines in Cull Severance funding over the past several years, and the bottom seemingly falling out of the funds being returned to Pike County. The county's budget crisis is coming to a head in the form of a projected $5.7 million shortfall. This I feel like is hopefully the worst case scenario. If we have anything left at June 30th, we need to sit on it. The coal industry is just affecting everything in our budget. You know, we've always had a shortfall, but this one is probably going to be one of the most difficult budgets that we've ever dealt with. DeBilder said the county's occupational tax, although highly questioned, has been a saving grace. Everybody says the occupational tax is a bust. At this point in time, if we did not have the occupational tax, we would not be having any money to spend. And DeBilder said with the current budget problems, a reduction in the county's workforce is not a possibility, but an inevitability. Do you think we're going to have to make personnel cuts? Yes, sir. Yes. Also discussed was insurance for county employees. While they enjoy insurance coverage now at no cost to them, a K-Co representative told the court today during the meeting that if the county keeps its current plan, the employees will have to pay premiums. It would be $135 a month for employee only. It would be $284 a month for employee spouse, $244 a month for employee children, and $434 a month for family. That's a significant increase over nothing. Officials said at the meeting they planned to examine any and all areas for cost savings before taking action, which would place the cost of insurance premiums on employees. The budget numbers presented today, specifically the projected $5.7 million shortfall, are based upon the draft budget presented to the court last week by Judge Executive Bill Deskins. Reporting in Pikeville for EKB News, I'm Chris Anderson.