Nov 27, 2017 3 min read

The total value of property assessed in Washington County as of Nov. 15 is nearly $17 billion.

That’s a decrease of $73,000 from the preliminary 2018 budget. The number reflects appeals from the recent county reassessment, which went into effect this year, but any loss was mostly offset by new development.

The bottom line for the 2018 Washington County general fund budget of $90.7 million is that the real estate tax levy will remain at 2.43 mills, according to the posted budget, which became available for public inspection Monday.

Absent from the budget is an allocation for the Washington County Health Center. The county expected to complete the sale to Premier Healthcare Management LLC of Philadelphia Oct. 20, but on that date, it turned over operations at the health center.

To date, the county has received $2.5 million from Premier.

A closing on the real estate is now scheduled for Friday.

The 288-bed facility had been operating in the red since 2012, losing some $9 million.

“Since the 20th, we’ve not incurred any expenses related to the health center” operations, said Joshua Hatfield, Washington County finance director. “All the maintenance of the building has been on Premier and their employees.”

The county expects to reap a total of $26.9 million when closing on the 19-acre site.

The 2018 posted budget has not earmarked the amount.

The county, however, plans to use some money from the Act 13 impact fee related to fracked natural gas to make repairs at the more than century-old Courthouse and the more recently constructed Courthouse Square complex.

Since the preparation of the preliminary budget, the county has received rates on both employees’ and retirees’ health insurance. Employees’ rates went up 9 percent, but the cost of the plan for those over 65 went down by $650,000.

Although the county is jettisoning the health center, it continues to operate the jail, which housed, at the end of October, 391 inmates; county parks and the Panhandle Trail; and services for the aged, children and youth, those with behavioral and developmental problems; the 911 emergency dispatch center; and elections, among other departments.

Because the county had not yet finished collective bargaining with members of its largest union, Service Employees International, no pay raises for hundreds of workers were included in the 2017 preliminary, posted and adopted budgets. These costs appear in the 2018 budget.

The commissioners expect to adopt the 2018 general fund spending plan at their final scheduled meeting of the year, 10 a.m. Dec. 21 on the first floor of the Courthouse Square office building.