LIMA — The budget for Allen County’s general fund is going up almost 2 percent this year after county commissioners approved the new budget Tuesday.
The nearly $27.2 million budget is $506,571 larger than last year, with increases mainly centered around county employee pay and benefits, county Commissioner Cory Noonan said.
“We’re very appreciative of the employees here in Allen County,” he said. Health care “premiums did go up a little over $200,000 on the county side, but we also wanted to put a major emphasis on doing something for the employees on the salary base, and we were able to do that for 2017. Our revenues supported that.”
Commissioners approved a 2 percent pay increase for bargaining and non-bargaining general fund employees. The increase was made possible thanks to increased sales tax revenues, which accounts for more than 60 percent of money going into the general fund. Having a framework for county revenues and expenditures completed now will benefit all county departments and agencies as they map out their financial plan for the year, according to Noonan.
“It’s great that we’re able to pass the budget in the front end of January,” he said. “This is a culmination of many months going into this, and the work doesn’t stop today. Our budget is based on projected revenues from the budget commission, a three-member panel that tells us what the projection is based on previous years.”
Additional increases were seen in provisions to the Juvenile Detention Center, which received an increase of just more than $100,000 overall. Other increases were seen in allotments for utility payments, with utility rates continuing to maintain an upward trend.
“We’re comfortable with the projections the way they are and the budget that we have, but throughout the year, we continue to look at the budget, revenues and expenses,” Noonan said. “If we need to make adjustments, we need to be prepared for those. So it’s always a topic of conversation here, just as it is around the dinner table at home. It’s the same thing here.”
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