Dec 5, 2024 By Mike Jones 3 min read

The Washington County commissioners passed their 2025 budget that keeps taxes steady for property owners next year.

The commissioners unanimously approved the $132.36 million spending plan during their Wednesday morning meeting with little discussion, although there were dueling opinions lobbed about the budget afterward.

“Your taxes will not be increased in the next calendar year,” commission Chairman Nick Sherman said during the meeting. “So we’re happy to report that. There was a lot of work by our offices and everything else. So no tax increased in 2025.”

The property tax rate will remain at 2.43 mills, which is the same level it has been since 2017, when the commissioners readjusted it following the countywide reassessment.

However, there were some concerns raised by Commissioner Larry Maggi, a Democrat who is in the minority on the Republican-controlled board with Sherman and Commissioner Electra Janis.

“After researching and digging a little bit into the budget, I’ve got some unease about our current spending and our future spending,” Maggi said. “But with that being said, I vote yes.”

Following the meeting, Maggi issued a press release saying he was unsure where in the budget money was earmarked for major projects, including the $24.445 million contract with Motorola Solutions to build the new 911 emergency radio system, along with the anticipated multimillion-dollar cost to demolish the Courthouse Square building and eventually construct a new public safety building.

After the meeting, Sherman said there are no line items for the radio contract or public safety building construction in the general spending budget because they intend to use federal American Rescue Plan Act money for those projects.

“The operating budget is what we voted on (Wednesday),” Sherman said. “The Motorola project and the new public safety building are paid 100% through ARPA money. So at no point will that be coming out of the direct budget of the county. They are two completely different piles of money.”

There is about $9 million left of the nearly $100 million in ARPA money the county received in 2022, which must be earmarked by the end of the month, but doesn’t have to be spent until the end of 2026. While the Motorola contract has already been approved, there is no public bid or authorized contract yet to demolish Courthouse Square or build the new public safety building, although Sherman said their “intentions” to use ARPA money for those projects are already known.

The spending plan is $132.36 million, while the budget expects to produce $109.48 million in revenue, which is up less than 1% compared to the 2024 budget. Nearly $23 million from the estimated $65 million in the fund balance is slated to make up for the gap between revenue and spending in the general budget.

The county last year hired an outside firm, Susquehanna Accounting & Consulting Solutions, to handle the budget preparations in conjunction with the finance department.