A view of the county administrative offices in Doylestown.
Credit: Tom Sofield/NewtownPANow.com
The Bucks County Commissioners have unanimously approved a 2019 operating budget while still holding the line on taxes after a difficult planning season.
The final budget of $432.6 million is a 2.1 percent increase over the 2018 budget.
Director of Finance and Administration David Boscola, who last month projected a preliminary deficit of roughly $15.5 million at the current tax millage rate, said the spending plan was balanced by identifying additional revenue, projecting reduced expenditures for health care and personnel, and using $1.3 million from the county’s $35.6 million general fund balance to cover the budget.
The process of balancing the budget began months ago, with a $35 million gap between expected revenues and initial budget requests from county departments. By Thanksgiving, county officials had reduced that projected deficit by more than half and pledged to continue scrutinizing revenue and expenditures to further reduce the shortfall.
A line-by-line look at the budget shows decreases in spending by some departments and increases by others.
According to Chief Operating Officer Brian Hessenthaler, meeting the 2019 budget will be determined by deciding whether to fill non-essential positions as they become vacant. He called it the “most difficult” budget in the last 15 years.
A similar financial situation faced the county in 2012 when a selective hiring program also was implemented. Unlike that year, the 2019 adjustments are being made without a tax increase.
As a result of leaving many vacancies unfilled, the county workforce dropped from 2,634 full-time employees to roughly 2,400 by the end of 2012, and to 2,350 by mid-2013. The county currently has 2,389 full-time employees.
“These budgets aren’t easy. They get more challenging and complex each year,” said Commissioners Chair Robert G. Loughery. “But we have a budget here before us today that I think covers much of the services that are needed in the county.”
Despite the expected winnowing down of the workforce, Loughery said the county “will continue to provide those services at the top level and continue to do the right things for the residents of Bucks County.”
Bucks County continues to hold a AAA bond rating from Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s. This rating benefits taxpayers through lower borrowing costs on current and future bond issues.
The 2019 budget includes provisions for departments serving Bucks County residents such as Area Agency on Aging (AAA), Behavioral Health, Board of Elections, Children & Youth Social Services Agency, Corrections, Emergency Services, General Services, Health and Emergency Health, Mental Health/Developmental Programs (MH/DP), Parks and Recreation and Veterans Affairs, among others. The budget also provides for courts and nine elected row offices, including the Clerk of Courts, Controller, Coroner, District Attorney, Prothonotary, Recorder of Deeds, Register of Wills, Sheriff and Treasurer.
The approved 2019 operating budget can be viewed online.
