Lackawanna County commissioners presented a $181,000,000 tentative operating budget for 2026 at a public hearing in Dunmore on Oct. 15, 2025, and said the preliminary plan does not include a real estate tax millage increase.

"We can present a balanced preliminary budget that does not raise taxes," Commissioner Bill Gahan said, attributing the progress to independent financial review and internal cost controls.

The countys preliminary budget for 2026 reflects several changes commissioners described as the product of structural reforms. Gahan said the county reduced a previously reported structural deficit that had been estimated at $37 million in 2024 to a projected $3.9 million deficit for 2026 before certain planned revenues and refunds. Commissioners listed specific items they expect to use to close the gap: $880,000 in cuts, a planned tax lien sale of $1,750,000 and a group health refund of $1,100,000. Coupled with lower-than-expected health-care cost increases and departmental savings, Gahan said the county is projecting a preliminary surplus of more than $500,000.

Officials tied the budget outlook to operational reforms. Gahan said changes to health-care administration reduced a projected health-care increase from about 9% to roughly 4.5%, and improved administration at the county prison reduced overtime costs. Commissioners also described restoration of a full state license for the Office of Youth and Family Services, a reduction of that offices case backlog from well over 1,000 to under 100 and an increase in caseworker staff from roughly a dozen to more than 50.

Public commenters pressed for line-item detail. "It looks like the entire fund balance is being brought into the budget and saying that it's a revenue," Taylor resident Amanda Sagona said, raising concern that counting fund-balance transfers as recurring revenue could overstate the countys financial position.

Commissioner Sacco said she will continue to review individual line items and cited several she intends to examine further, including legal-fee expenditures, professional services in the Office of Youth and Family Services and entries tied to the American Rescue Plan. Sacco said she would follow up and invited residents to leave contact information so staff could respond.

Commissioners and staff repeatedly pointed to ancillary programs funded through the operating budget: business improvement grants, a county partnership with the Chamber of Commerce to promote entrepreneurship, eviction-prevention efforts that officials said helped 70 families, and parks and trail investments including the North Pocono Trail in Elmhurst Township.

No formal votes occurred during the hearing. Commissioners said budget materials, including a digital budget book with charts and department-level explanations, are available on the county website and in printed form at the hearing location. A follow-up budget hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. Oct. 16 at the Troop Civic Center.

Questions that remain open from the hearing include the final treatment of fund-balance transfers, the outcome of the countys planned tax-lien sale and the detailed accounting of professional-service and legal-fee line items commissioners said they will review further.