Everyone who works with finances has to operate with a budget. Even in our personal finances, we know that we have to plan correctly to prevent “too much month at the end of the money.” This is true with government entities as well, as they have to plan a budget and show concretely where the funds are going to come from to balance that budget.

At the regular County Commissioners Meeting on October 22nd, Beth Johnson, Lycoming County’s Director of the Office of Budget and Finance, presented the county’s preliminary budget for 2021. The office had a shorter time frame to produce the budget this year (due to COVID, of course) and had to work with a new software program (everyone’s nightmare!), but with the commitment and hard work that too often gets taken for granted — they pulled it off.

From a pedestrian’s standpoint, it was even more impressive because, in the past five years of looking at these presentations, the nine-page overview handed out to the public this year was the best I have seen yet.

It was designed and written for a layman to understand. Yet, that being said, to the layman, it looked rather grim. The projected budget was approximately $126 million in expenses, with only $102.5 in income, and this was with a projected $5.3 million increase (5.3 percent) over the current 2020 budget. It does not take a math genius to figure out that this is a classic “too much year at the end of the budgeted money” problem.

However, there are many different streams of funding sources, and the county will have a ‘balanced’ budget when all the pieces are put together. This was referred to after Beth presented the budget by Commissioner Scott Metzger. He noted all the hard work that produced the budget and that he was “cautiously optimistic” given the various anticipated funding sources available to meet the perceived shortfall.

Commissioner Rick Mirabito noted the county’s progress in one of the biggest expense areas, which is employee salaries and legacy costs. He remarked that the two boards have reduced the number of full-time employees from 552 to 530 in the past five years. This has resulted in a $1.325 million per year savings to the county budget.

The credit for these savings goes in a number of directions. This retraction has resulted from a team effort in the reorganization of departments, better structuring of employees’ work, and hiring more part-time employees. And speaking of budget trimmers, few people can shave a contract down better than Chief Procurement Officer Mya Toon. The number of contracts the county uses is staggering, and she squeezes cost savings out of every one of them till there is not one drop of excess left in them. It is exactly because of these county employees’ dedication that the current tax millage rate of 6.5 percent will remain the same for the coming year.

However, the elephant (and donkey) in the room is Harrisburg and the uncertainty of funds that will be forthcoming from the state in 2021. COVID shutdowns have seriously impacted tax revenue at the state level, and something will have to give. Commissioner Metzger alluded to this and noted that the county leaders are wisely developing contingency plans. Of course, this will result in more than a little pain for the simple reason that, unlike the federal government, neither the state nor the county can print money. Like it or not, they can only spend what they have, which means some folks are not going to be happy with what needs to be cut out.

Every taxpayer in the county owes it to themselves to at least review this budget. On the county’s website, lyco.org, the budget is featured on the home page, “Preliminary 2021 Lycoming County Budget.” Click on the link. There is the nine-page review with graphs, charts, and explanations, followed by an eight-page budget summary with the categories specifically citing the revenue and funding. It is our money, and we should know where it is going.