During their Nov. 7 meeting, the Carbon County Commissioners approved the adoption of the 2019 tentative budget. Following that, the budget was released for public viewing on Nov. 9. At the Tuesday evening specially-scheduled meeting, the commissioners conducted a short review of the budget with the high-level changes presented. It was easily noticed that there were many more decreases to funds than increases. The general fund, fund 10, was decreased by $40,000. Fund 20 was decreased by over 1 million while fund 24 saw a decrease of $51,000. Funds 25, 26, 45 and many more saw decreases ranging anywhere from $33,000 to $67,000 and higher.
A small number of funds were also increased. Fund 54 saw an increase of $308,000. This fund is covered by a grant provided to help resurface the airport runway. Commissioner chair Jake Mellor stated that over the last four years, the county has been struggling to find what the revenues really are. Last year, even though more was spent than projected on expenditures, more than what was brought in was spent due to over-projecting so much on what the expected revenues would be.
That having been stated, commissioner Mellor continued by explaining that for 2019, the budget has been balanced with no fund balance being used. This means that money is not being pulled out of savings in regard to what is projected and the county does not plan to take away from future years or the rainy day fund. The commissioners also discussed some changes with Carbon County Clerk/Auditor Seth Marsing.
The county’s senior center is projected to be closed on Fridays and a director is going to be shared between Carbon and Emery counties. No new equipment has been projected to be purchased other than half an ambulance, meaning that the county is planning on taking monies for the ambulance and attempting leverage at the Community Impact Board to acquire a grant for the other half.
The road department is also projected to fix fewer roads in 2019 in an effort to keep costs low. Various other site improvement projects will be pushed out and scheduled over a period of time to be more easily paid for rather than all at once. Also changed is an increase on the county employee’s portion of health insurance benefits. In 2019, employees will pay 10%, where before they were paying 5%. A public hearing pertaining to the budget was opened and subsequently closed with no individuals approaching to discuss it with the commissioners.
The budget is still available for perusal online or at the Carbon County Administration Building. The 2019 budget was approved by the commissioners.