Newport
A decision earlier this month by the Executive Finance Committee of the delegation to use more of the fund balance to offset taxes means there will be no tax increase for residents in the county’s 15 municipalities, County Manager Jessie Levine said Tuesday evening.
The budget is about $130,000 less than what was approved by the three-member county commissioners in May. Levine said officials recently learned that the county’s cost to cover Medicaid recipients is projected to be lower than initial estimates, so the Human Service budget was reduced.
The new budget requires $12.9 million in property tax revenue, the same as this year’s. It also uses a little more than $3 million in fund balance to maintain a level tax rate and to pay for several capital projects.
Levine said she is projecting the county will have an undesignated fund balance of about $4 million, after deductions for the new budget. The county has another $1.5 million in reserve for unanticipated increases in nursing home expenses.
The proposed budget is up about $1.2 million from this year after one-time transfers of $1.9 million from fund balance and surplus in this year’s budget are removed because they are not repeating expenses and should not be included in the new budget, Levine said earlier.
In a presentation to the delegation Tuesday night, Levine said the two main areas of the increase are for extra pay period next year ($350,000) and a 22 percent increase in health insurance ($260,000).
Fifteen capital projects planned for next year equal $837,500.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com
