Commissioner: Budget challenges are ahead

​YORK – Commissioner Randy Obermier, Commissioner Daniel Grotz and Clerk Kelly Turner have been working on the formulation of the county’s budget for the new fiscal year.

​“The budget requests have been interesting,” Obermier said this week during the commissioners’ meeting. “There are challenges ahead to make this work, due to last year’s and this year’s decisions regarding an additional 1% budget authority.”

Two weeks ago, three of the five commissioners voted against allowing the additional budget authority, in case it would be needed.

Obermier said the issue of wages will again pose a challenge. “Last year, this board allowed several wage increases, in one year, for the roads department, as an example, to keep together our crew and retain our employees. Despite those wage increases, we are still four or five down, with open positions, anyway. There were wage increases last year. Spending is increasing and it will be a challenge to get this all to work.”

“I’ve been going through the budget numbers and hopefully by the end of the week we will be able to get our recommendations back to the department heads,” Grotz said. “And then, in the following week, we get those figures to Jill (the outside professional who assists the county with the budget work) and we will have a budget draft in this board’s hands by early August.”