In just three months, the $35,000 Union County budgeted this fiscal year for court-ordered substance abuse treatment has already been used.

Monday, County Auditor Sandy Hysell was forced to move an additional $35,000 from the general-basic fund to the substance-abuse fund. Hysell said substance-abuse budgeting is very difficult because the amount of money expended on the line item varies so much from year to year.

“We spent $45,000 all of last year, but the year before we spent $80,000,” Hysell said. “It’s very difficult to estimate how much we will spend each year, because it fluctuates so much.”