Crawford County’s proposed 2021 budget will not include a tax increase, although it’s slightly out of whack, according to county officials.
The county’s proposed total budget for the next year is $ 72,408,137, said Stephanie Franz, the county’s chief financial officer, at the county commissioner’s working meeting on Wednesday.
The overall fund portion of the budget that covers operating expenses is just over $ 34 million, but the proposed overall fund budget is currently $ 82,365 off balance, she said.
“In the next (few) days there is still some work to be done before the budget is approved,” said Franz in order to balance the budget.
Most of the imbalance is the increased security costs for the Linesville and Titusville District Justice offices over the next year, Franz said.
The additional costs for a security officer in both offices due to the pandemic should not initially go beyond the end of 2020, said Franz. However, the costs for security officers in these two offices must be estimated for 2021, with the pandemic extending into the new year .
One way district officials are working to balance the budget is to cut travel expenses as travel has decreased due to the pandemic, said Franz and Commissioner Chairman Eric Henry.
“I am confident that we can achieve this,” said Franz about the budget balance. “It will just take a little time and effort on our part.”
Commissioners Henry, Francis Weiderspahn Jr. and Christopher Soff have stated that they do not want an increase in the county property taxes due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact.
Henry said he appreciated the work all of the district offices are doing to keep their budgets low for 2021.
“Especially with COVID, staying where we are (in terms of taxes) is important,” said Henry.
Weiderspahn said the process up to the proposed 2021 was “the smoothest and closest to a balanced budget in my nine years as Commissioner”.
Commissioner Soff was absent on Wednesday because of grief.
The proposed budget for the county 2021 is expected to be put to a vote by the commissioners at next week’s board meeting.
Once a provisional permit has been granted, the law requires it to be available for public inspection and comment for 20 days. The commissioners are then expected to finally approve the 2021 budget at the end of December.
If the county property tax rate remains unchanged at $ 21.85 million for 2021, the county real estate taxes will remain at $ 546.25 per year for a piece of land estimated at $ 25,000.
Keith Gushard can be reached at 724-6370 or by email at [email protected].