Jefferson County is bleeding cash and without drastic cuts could be broke by August 7, according to testimony in court Monday.

County finance chief Travis Hulsey told the court that the county has $18 million in monthly expenditure and $8 million in revenue. Cuts have been made, but at the current rate the county will not be able to make payroll at the begining of next month, he said.

Last week, the county had less than $5 million in the bank, but an infusion of cash this week will bring it back up to $10 million.

Still, without a possitive cash flow, the county will not be able to continue opperations. The county is considering as many as 1,200 layoffs, Hulsey said.

Hulsey testified Monday in a lawsuit brought against the county by Sheriff Mike Hale. Hale is trying to stop the county from cutting his department’s budget.

“We are doing what we can to survive,” Hulsey said.

In the third day of trial, county officials claimed that the Sheriff’s Department is capable of providing minimum services with between $40 million and $45 million.

According to Hulsey, Commission President Bettye Fine Collins instructed department heads in March to begin saving for potential cuts. There Sheriff’s Department has been reluctant to make those cuts and now as as little as $5 million on hand to finish the rest of the fiscal year.

The county lost nearly $70 million a year in revenue after losing a lawsuit over its occupational tax. In that case, a state circuit judge found that the Alabama Legislature had legally repealed the tax. The county is appealing the decision, but in the meantime it has been barred by the courts from spending the occupational tax.