York County adopts 2022–23 budget after brief public comment on inheritance tax reliance

The York County Board of Commissioners adopted its fiscal year 2022–23 budget and set the county's property tax request during a meeting on Sept. 20, closing a brief public hearing and approving a resolution of adoption and appropriations by roll call vote.

The move came after a participant who was thanked at the meeting as Willard urged commissioners to be cautious about relying on the county's inheritance tax fund to cover ongoing expenditures. Willard said counties that draw down inheritance funds are "only kicking the can down the road" and warned that slower population growth in some counties would make the approach unsustainable; he also said wage increases were a major driver of the increase in the tax asking.

Board members and staff confirmed that final budget figures and revenue estimates had been circulated by email in advance of the hearing. Meeting discussion and the documents read into the record noted the county's proposed fiscal year runs from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023, and that the budget document prepared by the budget-making authority had been transmitted to the York County Board on Sept. 20, 2022.

During the meeting the chair introduced and the board read a formal resolution of adoption and appropriations for the fiscal year; a member asked to make a motion to adopt the resolution and another member seconded. The board then called for a roll-call vote. The votes recorded in the meeting were: Chair ' yes; Commissioner Sykes ' yes; Commissioner Brooks ' yes. The motion carried, and the board authorized the appropriations and related expenditures for the 2022'23 fiscal year.

Meeting remarks read a property tax request figure for the general fund and line-item amounts for debt service and the ambulance fund as read into the record by staff; those figures were presented during the meeting as: general fund property tax request approximately $6,805,489; debt service $874,000; ambulance fund $320,368. Meeting speakers also said the overall tax asking had risen by about $176,000 and attributed most of that increase to wage costs. Where numbers in the meeting audio were unclear, the article notes them as the figures read aloud at the meeting.

The board adjourned after completing the vote. The resolution adopted at the meeting will be signed by the commissioners as recorded in the minutes.