By Tricia Pursell
MIDDLEBURG — The Snyder County commissioners adopted a tentative 2010 budget on Tuesday, but they still have some trimming to do, they said.
A half million dollars separate the expected revenue of $14.7 million and the $15.2 million in projected expenditures for the county next year.
“There is still a gap,” Commissioner Malcolm Derk said. “We hope to work hard in the next few weeks to make it balance without a tax increase. There are quite a few areas each of us have identified. All of us need to get together and see where we can agree.”
“This is a good ballpark budget,” Commissioner Richard “Bud” Bickhart added.
The 2009 budget totals $15.19 million.
Derk said he is happy to see the numbers so close this early in the budget process and in spite of economic conditions that have reduced revenue amounts.
The county will see decreased reimbursements in several areas, especially at the county jail. In 2009, the revenue was $1 million. The 2010 amount is projected to be $605,000, but expenditures at the prison are expected to increase to nearly $2.8 million.
The U.S. marshals and immigration services have not been sending as many federal inmates to the jail, Derk said, which drastically reduces revenue. Previously, 12 to 20 federal inmates were housed there each day. In addition, the DUI Court and Drug Court are expected to keep more inmates out of the prison system, which the commissioners hope will decrease prison expenditures.
“It’s all a change in the way we’re doing business,” Derk said. “Hopefully, it’s a good thing, and there won’t be the recidivism rates there used to be.”
Medical costs at the prison also are rising, he said. The commissioners under-budgeted last year for this growing expense. The amount spent was above average for 2009. For next year, the commissioners are budgeting approximately three times the amount budgeted last year.
The commissioners also have tentatively budgeted $100,000 for new security cameras at the jail, but Derk said that project may need to be done in phases.
The county awaits several state reimbursements for various departments and programs, which Chief Clerk Lee Knepp said “may or may not come by the end of the year.”
The 2010 budget is scheduled to be adopted Dec. 29.
