Dec 24, 2025 By Garrett Neese 2 min read

Greene County residents won’t see a property tax increase in 2026.

The commissioners approved a $20 million general fund budget, up 1.1% from last year, at their meeting last Thursday.

Overall spending for the county is targeted at $37.1 million, down about 0.5% from 2025. That $188,000 decline is less than half the drop in Act 13 fundås, disbursed annually to cover the impacts of drilling for unconventional gas wells. Those funds fell more than $411,000, to under $3.5 million.

Jared Edgreen, chairman of the commissioners, said the board is taking a fiscally conservative approach, making no major changes from the previous year. He and Finance Director Jeremy Kelly described several steps the county has taken, such as consolidating departments and maximizing use of grant funding.

“There are a lot of things by state and county code that we are required to do, and in that governance, we have to be creative on ways to save money in a world where all the prices are going up … the inflation that we’ve seen post-COVID is really tough to deal with,” he said.

For power expenses, the county is part of a consortium that locked in prices for a three-year deal prior to the summer’s rate increases, Edgreen said.

Pennsylvania’s budget was approved about a week before the county would have needed to take out a loan, Edgreen said.

Most of the county’s grants had already been secured, allowing the county to better ride out the budget impasse, Kelly said.

“I don’t budget thinking that we’re going to get something in ’26 towards the end,” he said. “So in July or June, I’ll start that process of updating the budget, because by that time, we’ll know that those things are starting to flow in. So in all honesty, it didn’t affect us too much … We were definitely on edge, but at the end of the day, it was OK.”

Spending in other area is budgeted to stay at 2025 levels: Children and Youth Services ($6.05 million), Human Services and Early Intervention ($3.08 million), Community Development Block Grant ($576,865), liquid fuels ($103,965), core human services programs and transportation ($1.023 million), 911 ($950,000), domestic relations ($692,000), drug and alcohol services ($961,716.52), and the tourism fund ($210,000).