HOLLIDAYSBURG — Fort Roberdeau will need to look for grants and other sources to fund restoration of its officers’ quarters and to pay for security after the county commissioners slashed the fort’s requested budget of $13,327 to just $2,477.

Blair County is facing a $6.2 million budget deficit next year, and the commissioners have been holding budget work sessions the last few weeks in an effort to close the gap between estimated revenues of nearly $50 million and expense requests of more than $56 million.

Stating that the revenue the fort brings in falls “way short of what it costs,” Commissioners Chair Dave Kessling said “Unfortunately, I won’t support it.”

At issue during Wednesday’s session was a $10,000 line item for the fort’s officers’ quarters restoration, with Commissioner Amy Webster stating it was to replace rotting wood.

County Finance Director Lindsay Dempsie said the project had not yet been started.

“I wonder if we cut this line item, if they would be able to get public funds to do the restoration,” Kessling asked.

Webster agreed, stating that part of the reason the county changed the fort’s “percentage” was so they could apply for grants.

Along with cutting the restoration, a request for $1,500 to pay for security during the fort’s Halloween Adventures and its Legacy Weekend Event was lowered to $750 for Halloween Adventures security only.

“I would strongly recommend the fort start looking at additional funding somewhere else because the county can’t stay on this trajectory,” Kessling said.

Webster suggested that the fort raise admission prices again and hold more events to bring in additional revenue.

Also on the table Wednesday was the highway department budget: $5.5 million for 37 items, including $2 million for road improvements in Claysburg and $50,012 for an adult probation vehicle.

Dempsie said the vehicle could be paid for through the court’s supervision fund, if approved by President Judge Wade A. Kagarise. When asked by Kessling what the balance of that fund was, Dempsie said about $681,000.

“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask them to pay for it, honestly,” Commissioner Laura Burke said. “We’re cutting everything we can from everywhere.”

Other line items requested by the highway department were routine needs such as salt, tree trimming, line painting and county vehicle maintenance.

Maintenance and upkeep requests from the facilities department had commissioners cutting those requests deemed for aesthetic purposes only.

The department sought $977,567 for 187 items, including a $16,600 request for a low-pressure chemical wash of the front of the courthouse. Webster said it wasn’t necessary for the maintenance of the stone, but would only “make it look nicer.”

“I’m less concerned about aesthetics than actual maintenance,” Webster said. “If we’re going to cut, that’s something I would cut.”

About $44,000 was also requested for the construction of a rain garden outside the county employee parking garage, which is currently closed pending safety repairs.

Webster pointed out that grants were to be used to fund the garden and suggested delaying its construction for at least another year.

Burke agreed, saying it couldn’t be built “until we finish whatever we’re doing in the garage anyway.”

Facilities’ largest line item was for $341,712 for a coating and repairs to the roof on the courthouse’s new side.

That will now come out of the county’s capital reserve fund as Dempsie said that’s how “the majority of our roof projects” had been funded.

Adult Probation saw a cut of at least $10,000 from their requested budget of $28,144 for 206 items.

The main focus of discussion for commissioners were the line items showing 46 badges for $3,680, 23 badge belt clips/neck holders for $1,288 and 23 badge wallets for $966. They noted the department has 23 employees who carry badges when fully staffed.

“So they’re looking, as I see it, to replace everything all at once, instead of doing it as things break,” Kessling said.

Burke suggested combining the wallets with the belt clips and neck holders, saying those who carried a badge would only need one out of those three options.

They ultimately agreed to Burke’s suggestion and combined the three options while reducing the amount from what would have been 46 to 10. They limited each item to a cost of $42 each for a maximum of $420. Commissioners then dropped the badge request down to 10 for $800.

They also cut Adult Probation’s request for 23 probation hats at $460, 23 gun-cleaning kits for $782 and staff travel costs for $700.

The gun-cleaning kits were only cut after Dempsie told the commissioners that the county had never provided them in the past.

The coroner’s office requested about $397,818 for 24 items. The largest line item, which remained untouched, was $175,000 to pay for autopsies to determine cause and manner of deaths.

Line items on the budget showed the removal, transportation and cooler storage of decedents as costing $60,000. A new rental contract for that cooler storage reflected a $600 rent per month, per decedent for a maximum of 12 decedents at $7,200 a month or $86,400 a year.

When presented with the option to purchase new storage coolers, racks and materials for $61,018 so the county could store decedents itself, Kessling called it “common sense.”

Kessling said he remembered Blair County Coroner Ray Benton saying the $61,018 was “everything.”

“That’s this unit installed, hooked up, right now, instead of us reoccurring a $60,000 bill every year to house the decedents,” Kessling said. “It makes sense. It pays for itself in a year.”

The request was ultimately approved.

Dempsie presented general fund balance estimates calculated after the sessions held Oct. 21, Oct. 24 and Tuesday.

While estimated revenues remained unchanged at $49,910,349, expense requests decreased from $56,856,477 on Oct. 21 to $56,361,386 on Oct. 24 and $56,204,000 on Tuesday. As of Tuesday, the deficit was whittled down to $6,293,650, down from $6,946,128.

Commissioners will continue whittling down the budget beginning at 9 a.m. today in their meeting room in the basement of the Blair County Courthouse.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.