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The 2025 Stark County operating budget is $5 million higher than 2024.
Bạn đang xem: 2025 Stark County budget is $5 million higher than previous year
Stark County commissioners approved $93,756,100 for county operations next year. The Stark County sheriff will get the largest share of the budget.
The $5 million increase accounts for a 3% pay raise for county employees, increased health insurance costs, Multi-County Juvenile Attention System expenses and hefty court budgets.
The operating budget does not include appropriations for 2025 capital projects. The commissioners approved $83,200 in emergency capital to start off the year, but the full capital project budget will come before the three-members Board of Commissioners later into 2025.
2025 Stark County revenue expected to reach $95 million
Stark County revenue is forecast to be $95 million for 2025.
The biggest sources of county revenue are from the 0.5% justice system sales tax, property taxes and investments. Those three sources alone are expected to bring in over $67 million.
Total county revenue for 2024 through November was just over $90 million. County investments did well this year due to high interest rates, but sales tax revenue fell behind the prior year’s revenue for the first time since 2012.
The sales tax is only used for justice system purposes, like the sheriff’s office, prosecutor’s office and courts. It makes up for the largest share of forecasted budget revenue at about 37%.
The county is expecting another drop in sales tax revenue in 2025. Just $35 million is budgeted to come in from that source. Comparatively, sales tax revenue collections for 2024 are expected to reach $37.5 million.
The county will see a boost in property tax revenue in 2025 due to the recent countywide reappraisal.
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Home values jumped an average of 30% in the reappraisal, so property taxes are going up for many homeowners around the county.
Stark County will see a portion of those tax increases. Property tax revenue for all of 2024 is estimated to be about $19,865,000. With tax hikes in the new year, the county expects to collect $27 million in property taxes, a roughly $7 million increase.
“The recent reappraisal of real property will have a positive impact starting in 2025, on the general fund,” said Director of Management and Budget Christopher Nichols in remarks before the county commissioners voted to approve the budget Dec. 11. “We’ll see that little bump next year and then it will flatten out as it normally does after that.”
Investment income in 2025 is expected to be lower than 2024. The county has budgeted for $5.7 million in investment and interest revenue.
Nichols said the county passed a conservative budget to account for unexpected expenses that may come up during the year and uncertainty in the market.
$5 million budget increase to cover health care costs, court expenses
The $5 million budget increase will largely go to cover employee pay and benefits.
County employees will get an up to 3% pay raise next year.
The county’s Director of Human Resources Michael Kimble said the increase is “in line with the recent inflation rate and comparable with the wage increases in county bargaining agreements and other Ohio counties.”
Those pay increases will cost the county about $1.4 million, including the raise and other related expenses.
Health insurance rates have also increased, which will cost the county just over $1 million.
According to Kimble, health care costs have seen significant increases this year due to inflation and rising pharmaceutical costs. This led to both the county’s share and employee’s share in health care costs to increase by 10%.
“[That] will enable us to both control costs moving forward and provide the required funding for the health coverage for our employees and their dependents so that we can continue to offer a health plan that is competitive with other public employers,” Kimble said.
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Stark County Common Pleas Court will get $700,000 in additional budget funds and Stark County Family Court will get about $280,000. The budget increases are needed because of grant reductions, Nichols said.
Common Pleas will be hiring one additional probation officer to offset some of the high caseload issues it has experienced.
“They requested two additional probation officers, we trimmed that back to one,” Nichols said.
Another $1 million is going toward an increased share of the Multi-County Juvenile System budget due to the departure of Tuscarawas County.
Tuscarawas withdrew from the system at the end of 2022.
“With Tuscarawas County leaving the system a few years ago, this will be the first year that the new formula, with them taken out, has really reset and put the bulk of the expense back into Stark County’s pocket,” Nichols said. “As the largest user and largest county.”
MCJAS provides services for delinquent, unruly, dependent, neglected and abused children referred by juvenile or family court judges and serves Stark, Wayne, Carroll and Columbiana counties.
County revenues anticipated to flatten in coming years
Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, Nichols warned that the county’s budget revenues are anticipated to be relatively flat in the coming years.
“We have what we can afford to have at this point, especially from the employee perspective,” he said. “[Departments] should expect to continue moving forward with the number of employees, or less, feel free, that they currently have in the general fund.”
County leadership will need to keep this in mind when hiring employees with grant money, Nichols said.
“Those grants usually aren’t forever, as we’ve seen in a couple items today,” he said. “Those are potentially temporary employees when you hire them out of a grant.”
Reach Grace at 330-580-8364 or [email protected]. Follow her on X @GraceSpringer16.
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