Nov 23, 2020 3 min read

Greene County commissioners presented a more than $41 million proposed budget for 2021 during their Nov. 19 regular meeting, which includes a tax increase.

It is the county’s first tax increase since 2010 because of what commissioners referred to in a news release as a “structural imbalance” in the budget over the past five years.

The overall proposed 2021 budget is $41,067,577.77, which includes $18,956,723.69 for the general fund budget and $4,673,249.61 in impact fee funding.

The remaining breakdown of the budget shows Children and Youth Services receiving $6,818,506; Human Services and Early Intervention, $2,756,380; the Community Development Block Grant program; $2,310,000; Liquid Fuels, $1,120,000; Core Human Services Programs and transportation, $1,984,236; 911 fund, $950,000; domestic relations, $691,176.47; drug and alcohol, $614,306; and tourism fund, $193,000.

Over the past few months, the commissioners, joined by county Chief of Clerk Jeff Marshall and Chief Financial Officer Scott Kelley, have spoken at multiple public meetings expressing concerns regarding challenges in balancing the 2021 county budget.

The proposed budget’s “structural imbalance” was a result of the county’s general fund expenses increasing $5 million over general fund revenues while Act 13 funds were used to balance the budget, the release said.

The county’s capital reserve fund also saw a decrease of $8.5 million and the general fund balance decreased by $3.4 million, “essentially depleting all fiscal reserves,” the release said.

Commissioners said they have cut more than $1.4 million in expenses from the inherited 2020 budget and increased non-tax revenues and cut expenses in the proposed 2021 budget by $1.5 million. Falling land values have also “negatively impacted tax revenues,” the release said.

“Unfortunately, having implemented all available options to reduce the cost of government and increasing non-tax revenue, the final option for financial solvency for 2021 is a tax rate increase,” commissioners said in the release. “The 2021 general fund budget proposes a 1.5 mill tax increase … (which) will increase resident’s property taxes an average of 4.25%.”

Commissioner Mike Belding said the difficult decision to raise taxes was decided after all options were investigated as to how the budget could feasibly be balanced.

“Since taking office in January, we (the board of commissioners) have made fiscal responsibility and increased transparency a focus of our efforts,” Belding said. “Staff reductions, restructuring of existing debt and other budgetary restraints are not sufficient to save our way out of a $5 million annual deficit. We have implemented every available option and the remaining option for 2021 is a tax rate increase.”

According to information provided in the release, an average of 69% of a resident’s property taxes are paid to the school district and an additional 10% goes to their municipality.

The remaining 21% are county government taxes, the release said.

“We have been working very hard on the fiscal health of our county. Of course, new initiatives to stabilize our population, increase tax revenue and create new business and job opportunities takes time,” Commissioner Betsy McClure said. “At this point, we need to stop the downward spiral of our financial situation.”

The proposed budget is available for public inspection for a period of 20 days during normal working hours in the county chief clerk’s office.

The final version of the 2021 county budget is scheduled to be officially approved by the commissioners during their Dec. 17 public meeting.

The proposed budget is also available for viewing on the county website at www.co.greene.pa.us.