Beaver County finance director outlines $9.3 million budget shortfall and options to close gap
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Summary
The county budget shows an estimated $9.3 million gap driven by lower revenues and increased wage/benefit costs; staff proposed cuts and reserve use that would limit the remaining operating deficit to about $2 million without raising taxes.
Speaker 2 (Corey), presenting the proposed budget materials, told the board the county is facing an estimated $9,300,000 shortfall after reviewing anticipated revenues and departmental requests. "Basically... we're at about a $9,300,000 shortfall," Speaker 2 said.
Speaker 2 said the shortfall included roughly $3,800,000 in capital minor outlay and about $5,500,000 in operating shortfall tied to lower grant funding and reduced interest revenue compared with prior expectations. "So the majority of this is revenues coming in under anticipated... the other piece was wage benefit increases," Speaker 2 said.
Staff circulated a package of options (detailed on page 2 of the materials) that—if implemented short of a tax increase—would reduce the operating deficit to about $2,000,000, which the county could fund from reserves. Speaker 2 described the county's operating reserve as about $13,000,000 and noted ARPA funds were largely allocated with the capital reserve available to provide short-term coverage.
Board members discussed which items to adopt from the options list and asked how tapping reserves would affect long-term finances. Speaker 2 advised that using reserves would be a short-term measure and that the board would need to prioritize departmental requests. The budget resolution (Resolution 13) was on the upcoming agenda for formal consideration.