Even with less financial support from the state, Lycoming County commissioners are holding the line steady on real estate taxes and services for 2009.
A $109 million spending plan for 2009 goes on display today and may be viewed at the commissioners' office, the controller's office, the county Department of Fiscal Services and the James V. Brown Library.
The proposal reflects a 3.7-percent increase in expenses over the 2008 budget. That is the second smallest year-to-year increase in spending of the past five years, according to Rebecca A. Burke, commissioner chairwoman.
The tax rate will remain at 4.75 mills, under the proposal. One mill equals $1 in real estate taxes for every $1,000 in assessed property value in the county.
The county's expected revenue - $88 million - is about $4 million less than was budgeted for this year and reflects a 4-percent decrease in state funding and lower-than-expected returns on investments, according to Robert J. Noll, county fiscal services director.
About 30 percent of the expected revenue - or about $26 million - comes from real estate taxes, Burke said.
Due to shaky financial markets, the county expects about $500,000 less in interest revenue from investments in 2009, compared with 2008, Noll said.
"That interest income goes right into the general (operating) fund," he said. "That's money that just evaporates."
The county also is expecting to receive a smaller amount of liquid fuels funds, which is money raised by the state through a tax on gasoline. The money is used to maintain local roads.
In 2008, the county received $827,000. It anticipates about $680,000 in 2009, according to the budget proposal.
According to Noll, the county once again will bridge the gap between revenue and expenses with cash reserves.
The increase in expenses would have been much smaller had the federal Government Accounting Standards Board not imposed new rules for accounting employee non-pension retirement benefits such as health care.
Previously, the standards allowed governmental bodies to account for such benefits on a '"pay as you go" basis, Noll said.
Now, governments must account for future benefit obligations during the years employees are working in exchange for those benefits, he said.
The new rules resulted in the county being required to budget more than $9.5 million for employee benefits - a 31 percent increase over 2008, he said.
Without the new accounting procedures, the benefits would have increased only about 3 percent, Burke said.
Other top county expenses include $10.3 million for courts, $6.4 million for the county prison, $1.9 million for Information Services and $1.6 million for buildings and maintenance.
One of the big ticket capital projects the county is facing in 2009 is the replacement of the county prison's heating and air conditioning system.
According to Commissioner Ernie Larson, the current system is 25 years old and must be replaced at a cost of $845,000, $750,000 of which is accounted for in the 2009 budget.
The system replacement accounts for more than half of the county's 2009 capital budget, Noll said.
Also included in the budget is $250,000 in employee performance bonuses. The bonuses account for 1.5 percent of county employee wages.
According to chief county clerk Fred Marty, the bonuses will be divvied out based on whether each of the county's more than 500 full-time employees meets pre-determined goals and objectives for 2008.
The bonuses are the least costly way of rewarding employees because they are not counted as salary and therefore not calculated in annual cost-of-living increases or retirement, Marty said.
Commissioner Jeff C. Wheeland, who was highly critical of the bonuses when he successfully campaigned for the Republican nomination for commissioner last year, said he is "not comfortable" with the bonus system.
Wheeland added he is "reserving judgment" on the bonuses until he gets through a full year as commissioner.
Burke said the commissioners are happy the budget is finished and that county residents will see no decrease in services or increase in taxes.
However, Burke said she is worried a continuing reduction in state funding could jeopardize the future of some programs, such as D.A.R.E.
It also could further strain county coffers by forcing it to pay for services required by state law, she said.
"We still have significant concerns about state programs that are being cut," Burke said.
The commissioners plan to vote on the spending plan on Dec. 18. They meet at 10 a.m. in Executive Plaza.
