Bucks County has approved a budget that keeps the tax rate steady in 2021.
The $469 million spending plan was approved by the three county commissioners earlier this month. The tax rate will remain at 24.45 mills, which means the average property owner pays $920 per year in county taxes.
Advertisements
The budget has a $7.8 million shortfall between revenues and spending. The budget gap will be filled with money from the county’s general fund.
County officials said general fund balance is expected to be $42.5 million by the end of 2021. That figure includes the expected $7.8 million withdraw to cover the shortfall.
The county’s 2021 spending plan is 3.6 percent higher than 2020’s budget. Officials blamed the increase largely on rising pay and benefits for employees, debt service, and unfunded state and federal mandates.
Advertisements
The largest amount of spending is for health, housing, and human services at about half of spending and then public safety.
The budget projects a revenue increase of 2.3 percent throughout courts, agencies, and row offices, but shows tax revenue decreasing a little more than half a percent.
Advertisements
“I don’t think anybody would have thought, back in March, April and May, going through what we were going through, that we would be able to put a budget together with no tax increase,” Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo said when approving the budget. “I really think that’s the big news today. We are not raising taxes.”
The county’s 2020 spending was upended by the pandemic. The county received an unbudgeted $109 million through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The funds had to be spent on COVID-19-related expenses by the end of the year. The federal relief cannot be used to fill budget gaps.
Chief Financial Officer David Boscola said the CARES Act money being used for COVID-19-related matters helped the budget.
Advertisements
“It was expected that we were going to finish this year, without CARES, with about $30 million in the fund balance,” Boscola said. “With the CARES funding and the eligibility to cover salaries in the public safety and health sectors of the government, I’m anticipating that we’re going to finish 2020 with $50 million in our fund balance.”
DiGirolamo said the three commissioners – two Democrats and one Republican – came together to agree to a tax increase in 2021 in light of pandemic-related financial impacts.
Advertisements
The county has run a structural deficit over the past few years.
“The county has run at a deficit for most of the past 10 years,” said Commissioners Vice Chair Bob Harvie. “I was hoping to go after that this year, to really cut into it. Between the pandemic and the election, I’m happy that … it didn’t get bigger.”
Advertisements
“There are some tough decisions we are going to have to make. We know that,” Harvie added.
Report a correction via email | Editorial standards and policies
