County commissioners pass budget for 2024-25 fiscal year

YORK – After months of discussions, workshops and diving into the numbers, the York County Commissioners have passed the county’s budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

​They held two hearings Tuesday morning, prior to their regular meeting, pertaining only to the budget.
The first hearing was held to take comments from the public, in reference to the budget summary. Only one person, Willard Peterson of Bradshaw, spoke during the public comment period.
York County Commissioner Chairman Randy Obermier pointed out how the cash reserve has grown and is now up to $1.25 million. “The cash reserve is a necessary evil due to how the county’s collections come in three times a year” and the reserves are available to sometimes help cover claims and payroll during the times of year when collections are not coming in.
“In my personal opinion, I’d like to get the reserves up to a couple of million dollars, especially if the inheritance tax continues to come under fire at the state level,” Obermier said further.
He noted how the property tax levy went down this year. “Our interest income helped us lower the levy, we brought in over $700,000 in interest income.”
Obermier talked about how all departments and offices were asked to keep their budget growth at less than 3%.
“Yes, we are passing the budget, today, for the 2024-25 fiscal year, but we continue to look down the road, prepare for the long-term,” he added.
“I agree with what you said about preparing for the future, looking ahead,” said Commissioner Daniel Grotz who also sits on the budget committee with Obermier. “As we know, the interest income won’t be staying there forever. I think we are setting in a good place for this year.”
During the second hearing, Obermier explained this was being held regarding setting the tax request. “We came in under the 2% margin (of increase) so we didn’t have to have a pink postcard meeting.”
“I think everyone needs to realize how much work it takes to do the budget,” said Commissioner LeRoy Ott. He commended Obermier and Grotz “for doing a lot of the work on this. We also need to thank the department heads for going back and doing more work to cut their spending. Thankfully, I wasn’t in charge, I was just asked what I thought.”
They closed the hearings and later in the regular agenda, they voted in favor of adoption. They also approved the property tax request.
“This is a long process, but with $31 million in operating numbers, it should be,” Obermier said. “As far as services, none that people are used to will be interrupted.”
“And again, as I have said in the past, like with the diversion programs, all expansions of those programs depend on the receipt of the grants for which they have applied,” Grotz said.