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Blair budget work continues

No major decisions made to reduce shortfall

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Work on Blair County’s 2019 budget will continue into next week, as commissioners aim to have a spending plan ready by Oct. 15, much earlier than the 2018 budget, which was introduced in late November and adopted in late December.

County commissioners finished the last of six scheduled budget meetings Wednesday with no major decisions to reduce a projected $5.4 million shortfall. But commissioners agreed to resume their budget work at 9 a.m. Wednesday so they can consider some forthcoming information and consider options.

“We haven’t been able to have a general overview of the (2019) budget because we’re still playing with the parts,” Commissioners Chairman Bruce Erb said Wednesday.

Erb said he is still collecting budget information and wants to ask some more questions related to some specific budgets.

Commissioners used Wednesday’s meeting to take a closer look at the Blair County 911 Center’s budget showing that department’s revenue falling $976,586 short of covering projected expenses.

When the 911 Center doesn’t get enough money from the state and from fees paid by telephone users, the county’s general fund, supported by real estate tax revenue, makes up the difference.

While state lawmakers voted in 2015 to impose higher fees on telephone users to support 911 centers and their operations, that money has since “stabilized,” Director of Public Safety Mark Taylor told commissioners.

It’s probably a result of people getting rid of their landlines and a slowdown in smartphone purchases, Taylor said.

Commissioner Terry Tomassetti asked about the potential effects if the 911 Center had to furlough staff.

“Any reduction in staff would result in overtime,” Taylor said.

Staffing and related costs, with annual raises projected at 2 to 3 percent and many pending requests for additional increases, make up a major portion of the county’s annual budget.

In the 2019 draft budget, staff salaries, with the raises and additional increases, are projected at $18.2 million. That’s $2.6 million more than the 2018 budget allocation of $15.6 million based on full employment. It’s also much higher than the projected expense of $14.2 million because the county has saved money when positions were allowed to remain vacant, pending hiring.

The 2019 salary estimate will need to take a vacancy rate into an account, Erb said.

County leaders are also showing interest in an effort to cut costs by eliminating the use of desktop printers and consolidating use of a department copier, which has the potential to cut related expenses. But a move in that direction could take about six months.

Finance Director Jennifer Sleppy has also been reviewing compilations of department expenses, which could be subject to further adjustments. For instance, with with the use of the county’s Munis accounting system, she identified that departments collectively asked for $300,379 in 2019 to make equipment repairs. But between 2015 and 2018, the departments collectively incurred an average expense of $139,554 for equipment repairs. And while the 2018 budget estimated $190,800 for repairs, it’s projected to come in at $176,355, she said.

Those kind of financial details, Controller A.C. Stickel said, have become more easily accessible through the use of the Munis accounting system.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.

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