CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — Clarion County Commissioners Wayne Brosius, Ted Tharan, and Ed Heasley unanimously passed a proposed $18,870,464 budget for 2021 on Wednesday morning includes no new taxes.
A final vote on the budget is scheduled for December 22. The entire budget will remain on public display, including the County website, until final passage.
“Revenues are relatively flat from last year, with the tax revenue only increasing by $1500,” said Fiscal Director Rose Logue.
The budget is $1.2 million, down from last year due to a decrease in pass-through grants. The 2021 budget includes pass-through grants of $100,000 for the YMCA RACP grant, the Multimodal MTF grant of $700,000, the Brady Tunnel Grant Pass-through of $1.5, and the Clarion Healthcare RACP grant pass-through of $1 million.
Revenues from property taxes remain level from 2020 despite the impact of COVID-19.
The major increases to expenses for 2021 include a health insurance increase of approximately 6 percent or $94,278, employee raises (including union contracts) of $150,000, and Pictometry (aerial photography for GIS updates), and 40 percent of the voting equipment lease, $79,037, for a total of $323,315.
The 2021 proposed budget has a contingency reserve of $93,416.
“I think Ed and Rose, as they have in the past several years, have done a marvelous job on the budget,” said Tharan in voting for the budget.
In other announcements:
• DEP has lifted the drought watch for Clarion County. “That is good news,” Tharan said. “We’re back to normal status.”
• All county buildings will be open by appointment only until the end of the year.
“All county buildings will remain in their status quo until the end of the year being opened by appointment only. We’ll continue what we had passed a couple of weeks ago.”
• The proposed budget allows millage 20.5 mills, 1.5 mills for debt service, and a county per capita tax rate of five dollars.
