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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- Blair County commissioners are talking about setting aside a yet-to-be-determined amount of money in the 2020 budget to cover future pay raises linked to the recently completed job classification and salary study.
And they're talking about relying on the county's salary board, during next year's meetings, to make decisions on the raises linked to the salary study.
"We're going to be putting money in a contingency fund that could be used to address the salary study recommendations," commissioners Chairman Bruce Erb said after a recent budget review session with several department heads.
But with the 2020 draft budget still showing expenses exceeding revenue by almost $5 million, it's anybody's guess on how much money will be available to put in the contingency fund.
And with so many budget figures subject to change, Finance Director Jennifer Sleppy said she wouldn't consider guessing what the county will be able to afford.
Commissioners, as they did a year ago, are holding almost daily meetings to review departmental draft budgets on a line-by-line basis in preparation for introducing the county's 2020 proposed budget at their Nov. 12 meeting.
But before they get to the Nov. 12 meeting, county leaders will host three evening budget review sessions for the public, the first at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Hollidaysburg Area Junior High School.
Additional public meetings are scheduled for 6 p.m
Oct. 23 at Tyrone Area Junior-Senior High School and 6 p.m. Oct. 24 at the Spring Cove Middle School.
At last year's public meetings, county leaders offered a review of the draft budget and answered questions about ongoing efforts to balance the proposed spending plan and the real estate tax levy needed for that purpose.
While the 2019 budget was adopted with no increase in real estate taxes, that wasn't the case in the two prior years. Commissioners balanced the 2018 budget with a 25 percent increase in real estate taxes. That was a year after they levied a collective 10 percent real estate tax increase for 2017, the year when updated property assessments were used to calculate tax bills.
Commissioners have made one promise so far on 2020's real estate taxes levies. The counties libraries are expected to get very slight increase in their portion of the county's real estate tax levy, increasing it from 0.019 to 0.021 mills. That equates to 20 cents more for someone whose property is valued at $100,000.
But harder decisions are coming, not only on how to balance the 2020 proposed budget and the real estate tax levy to do that, but also on how much the county can afford to set aside to counter its longtime practice of low pay for employees.
The largest portion of the county's budget is set aside for employee wages and benefits. And so far, the draft budget includes 2.5 percent raises for nonunion employees and similar raises for most unionized employees, based on their negotiated contracts.
When department heads have asked to include additional raises in their 2020 budgets for underpaid employees, the answer has been no if those employees are represented by a union. That's what happened when Sheriff James Ott tried to budget higher compensation for his deputies starting at $14.65 an hour.
Granting raises beyond ones in the union contract would be an unfair labor practice, County Administrator Helen Schmitt told Ott.
And for nonunion employees, Erb has referenced the proposed contingency fund, along with the responsibility of decisions resting with the salary board next year, as it considers recommendations in the salary study, which has not yet been released for public review.
"There could be some marathon salary board meetings next year," Erb said.
In the meantime, department heads are leaving budget review meetings without the answers they wanted to hear.
President Judge Elizabeth Doyle tried to make the case, during her budget review session, of the need for the county to increase the $2,500 monthly pay to five attorneys regularly willing to take on cases by judicial appointment. She proposed $3,125 a month and told county leaders that without an increase, she fears the county will run out of attorneys for these appointments.
Erb, who had reviewed other departmental budgets and turned down similar requests, offered a quick response.
"And we're going to run out of money," he said.