CLEARFIELD – On Tuesday the Clearfield County Commissioners unanimously approved a balanced preliminary budget without a tax increase for the upcoming year.
The general fund budget anticipates revenues and expenditures totaling $25,099,895.56, while the overall budget anticipates revenues and expenditures totaling $44,046,624.
One of the most significant budget changes over the current year is the annual debt service payment of $613,000 for the $9 million renovation project at the Clearfield County Jail.
“That item is all the annual payment,” Commissioner Dave Glass said, noting the county is using about one million in Rescue Act Funds, and then borrowing $8 million to be repaid over 20 years.
He did say the debt service figure would go up, but not very much for some vehicles leased by the county. Those agreements, he said, weren’t received in time for inclusion in the preliminary budget.
He said the jail renovations could possibly be completed by the second quarter or early third quarter of 2022, but that will all be dependent upon the availability of equipment and materials.
Glass said the county is still in negotiations with all its collective bargaining units, and doesn’t expect to settle before passage of the final budget in December.
He said the preliminary budget included salary figures with a small cost of living adjustment, and that by no means was a reflection on the status of negotiations or what the outcome would be.
Glass said he couldn’t comment at all on how the county is budgeting for its health insurance because that was really the “crux” of the negotiations.
“There’s going to be some changes coming in our final budget – obviously,” Commissioner John A. Sobel, board chairman, said, “and we have reserves.”
Glass said he was very pleased that coming off the pandemic that the county was able to balance its budget without a tax increase. “That’s the big thing.”