No Tax Increase in Proposed 2018 Centre County Budget

For the eighth consecutive year, there will be no real estate tax increase under the proposed 2018 Centre County budget.

The county Board of Commissioners on Monday adopted the tentative proposed budget and authorized a 20-day public inspection period. A final vote for adoption will be held on Dec. 19.

Projected expenditures are $75.6 million and revenues are $73.1 million. County Administrator Margaret Gray said programs and services will continue at the same level as 2017 and the budget includes support for a few new initiatives.

Commissioners Mark Higgins, Michael Pipe and Steve Dershem applauded county staff for their work to be able to develop a budget that is nearly balanced, maintains services and doesn’t require a tax increase.

Higgins said that a number of other counties face much larger deficits, and that the past two years Centre County has projected deficits but ended the year with small surpluses.

‘The citizens of Centre County can be very proud it doesn’t include a tax increase,’ Dershem added. ‘We’re living within our means. We’re doing everything we can possibly do to find economies and the old saw ‘do more with less.’ Even though some of the resources we respond to from the state and local level are finite we still find a way to expand upon them.’

The county’s current combined general and debt millage rate, which will remain unchanged, is 7.84.

Director of financial management Tom Martin said revenue includes $29.2 million in grants and payments in lieu of taxes, $27.6 million in county real estate taxes, $11.8 million in departmental earnings and $4.5 million in internal charges for services.

Expenditures are $24.3 million for human services, $13.4 million for corrections, $9.9 million for judicial, $8.6 million for administration, $4.4 million for internal service, $3.8 million for protection and inspection, $3.6 million for debt service, $1.7 million for capital projects and $3.4 million for other allocations.

Martin said the budget includes funding for the new drug court, which has received a three-year federal grant, and for the the Centre County Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Initiative.

The capital funds budget includes money for courthouse renovations, camera system upgrades at the Centre County Correctional Facility and a public safety training site.

A 2 percent salary increase for employees is budgeted. Martin said that total salary and benefit expenses decrease by 3.7 percent because the county fared better in retirement and health insurance expenses than had been budgeted for 2017.

‘[The budget] continues our commitment to provide excellent services to the people of Centre County,’ Pipe said. ‘It allows us to have an on-time budget, which we pride ourselves on.’

The proposed 2018 Centre County budget can be viewed here.