Justin Guido

Butler County commissioners on Wednesday, Nov. 13, introduced a proposed a $257 million budget that does not include a tax increase for 2025.

While the total budget reflects a 2.25% decrease from this year’s $262 million budget, the general fund shows a 3.56% increase from $78.6 million to $81.4 million.

The increase in the general fund was created by a 1.5% increase in revenue and expenditures, including a $600,000 increase in employee health care costs, $500,000 increase in cybersecurity and staffing in the information technology department and $1.1 million in salary increases, said Ann Brown, budget director.

Projected general fund revenue of $73.6 million includes $54.1 million from real estate taxes and $19.4 million from all other general fund sources. The other sources include fines, charges for services, building use maintenance fees, interest and some state and federal money. This year’s budget shows real estate tax revenue of $53.4 million and $19.1 million from all other sources.

The 2025 budget proposal calls for the use of $7.8 million from the fund balance to balance the budget.

Brown estimated that $1.1 million of the $6.1 million allocated from the fund balance in this year’s budget would be needed to balance the 2024 budget. The fund balance currently contains a total of $17 million.

Public safety accounts for $24.5 million, or 30%, of general fund spending, followed by $18.2 million, or 22%, for the judicial system; $16.7, or 21%, for general government; $7.2 million, or 9%, in budget transfers; $6.5 million, or 8%, for human services; $4.5 million, or 6%, for debt service; $1.8 million, or 2%, for miscellaneous expenditures such as utility costs; $984,348, or 1%, for parks and recreation; and $959,667, or 1%, for conservation and development.

Public safety includes the county prison, the 911 center and adult and juvenile probation. The sheriff’s department and coroner’s office are included in the judicial system.

Brown said some of the federal American Rescue Plan Act money the county received was transferred into the general fund and then transferred to the capital project budget and used for county building projects, such as heating and air conditioning upgrades in the courthouse, new district court offices, the new coroner’s office and expansion of the domestic relations office.

The list of operating expense is led by $17.8 million for the prison, $9 million for court administration and related offices, $7 million in contributions to agency operations, $5.5 million for debt service, $3.9 million for adult probation, $3.5 million for the sheriff’s department, $3.3 million for children and youth services, $2.8 million for the district attorney’s office, $2.2 million for information technology and $1.7 million for juvenile probation.

Agency operation expense contributions are $5.7 million for Butler County Community College, $350,000 for the Community Development Corporation of Butler County, $309,000 for the Penn State Extension office, $289,680 for the federated library system and $155,000 for the airport authority.

The proposed budget does not raise the real estate tax rate of 27.6 mills. The allocation plan for the millage and the $54.1 million it is expected to generate distributes $42.8 million, or 21.8 mills, for general purposes; $5.7 million, or 2.9 mills for BC3; and $5.5 million, or 2.8 mills, for debt service.

The commissioners will consider budget adoption and the related tax ordinances at the Dec. 18 meeting.

Also in December, the county will receive $2.7 million from the opioid misuse lawsuit settlement, Brown said.