Lancaster County administrator recommends $156M general-fund budget; council presses for cuts and firmer revenue estimates

Lancaster County administrators presented a recommended FY2027 budget that the county says is balanced on preliminary assumptions but still needs firmer revenue numbers before final adoption.

Budget director Jamie Provoznak presented the administrator’s recommendation, saying the proposed general fund is balanced at about $156.4 million after trimming staff requests. The recommendation includes an estimated 7% increase in the value of one mill (staff estimated roughly $641,000 per mill) and would use approximately $29.3 million of the county’s unassigned fund balance for one-time capital items. The total budget presented across all funds was described as balanced at about $215.7 million.

"The recommended budget is balanced with increases to county operating, capital improvement, [and] millage rates," Provoznak said in her presentation. Interim county administrator Willis said the figures are preliminary: "We don't have certified mill values. This is balanced based on projections, and it's balanced based on a mill increase that I admittedly am saying, you know, council's not likely to do this," he told the council.

Council members repeatedly pressed staff for clearer revenue estimates and for comparisons to last year’s adopted budgets. Auditor Suzette Murphy told the council the mill value will likely be higher than the slide projection because assessor updates (including two apartment complexes) had not yet been posted: "The mill value is going to be more than what is projected on this slide," she said and promised more definitive figures in about two weeks.

Key budget items and figures discussed included:

- Personnel requests: staff received 91 requests for new positions totaling about $9.9 million; the administrator recommended 72.5 positions costing roughly $7.2 million.

- General fund: staff showed a general-fund total at $156,400,000 (an increase from prior-year operating figures discussed by council members).

- Reserves: staff reported approximately $72.2 million in reserves and proposed applying roughly $29.3 million to capital assets and one-time projects.

- Capital improvement plan (CIP): staff presented 24 CIP projects requesting about $77.2 million (9 previously approved but unfunded, 15 new). Staff recommended council review priorities; a Committee of the Whole discussion is scheduled for May 13, with budget ordinance readings set for May 26, June 8 and June 22.

The meeting captured notable disagreements over scale and approach. Several council members said the recommended total felt too large and urged staff to produce a more conservative baseline and narrower priorities. One council member suggested an operating target closer to $115 million to $120 million; staff said they would present trimmed alternatives rather than across-the-board cuts, which the administrator warned would unfairly penalize certain departments. "Please don't do the across the board cuts because departments just aren't created equally," the administrator said.

Public-safety investments were a recurring focus: council members and staff discussed new staffing for a detention center, a proposed change to the EMS schedule (phased transition from 24/48 to 24/72 requiring 12–14 new hires), radio-console replacement for 9-1-1 (estimated near $1.9M), and funding for multiple new fire stations or a county capital district to amortize station construction costs.

Council members asked staff to:

- Provide updated mill-value and local-option-sales-tax estimates within two weeks; - Add a column comparing recommended figures to the prior-year adopted budget (not just to staff requests) so the fiscal impact on taxpayers is clearer; and - Return with a set of targeted cuts and prioritized items to bring the operating budget closer to council guidance.

The administrator said staff will act on that feedback and present refined options before the first reading of the budget ordinance. The council took a 10-minute recess and adjourned the meeting after directing staff to study and return with narrowed proposals.