HONESDALE, PA — Wayne County’s proposed  budget for 2024 is now available to the public.

“The commissioners challenged each department to evaluate operations...from concepts as simple as printing two-sided copies to difficult topics such as staffing levels and succession planning,” the commissioners said in a statement when introducing their budget. “This budget maintains and funds the level of services our citizens require and deserve and keeps taxes flat for 2024.”

The commissioners said economic outlooks expect inflation to decrease or stabilize in 2024. The county is seeking grant money to offset the rising cost of human services delivery, the commissioners said, and will invest in community and economic development projects to spur growth.

The summary budget is posted on the county website and is available in the commissioner’s office for public inspection and comment. Commissioners plan to adopt the spending plan on Thursday, December 14.

Takeaways

The commissioners highlighted the following points:

• The 2023 budget included a projected use of carryover from the prior year of $1.3 million. This year has seen some savings in salaries and benefits when long-serving employees retired and from a staffing re-alignment.
• Real estate tax collections continued to be higher than the historically used estimate of 90.5 percent. The collection of real estate taxes estimate has been increased to from a historic 90.5 percent to 92 percent of the gross tax duplicate. This means that the proposed tax revenue line item is larger than in 2023. However, the millage rate is unchanged.
• Several departments had unanticipated costs related to their information technology (IT) systems. These costs were offset by some reductions in IT maintenance contracts from the current and prior year. 
• The planned deficit is expected to be closer to break-even for 2023, and an operational surplus is not expected.
• Next year will be the final year to benefit from American Rescue Plan funds that can be used for operations. “Effective management of these funds has provided significant investment income and the committed funds on hand for projects will continue to provide returns,” said the commissioners.
• The 2024 proposed budget has an estimated use of fund balance from prior years of $ 1.4 million. The county has met its goal of having an unassigned fund balance of at least 60 days of operations, but continued use of fund balance to cover rising expenses must be monitored closely.