Lake County Commission adopts 2023 budget

The Lake County Commission adopted the county’s fiscal year 2023 budget during its meeting on Tuesday.  The just more than ten-point-eight-million dollar budget is about eight-hundred thousand dollars less than the current year’s budget.  The largest fund for the county is the general fund, which totals just more than six-point-six-million dollars for Fiscal Year 23, followed by the Road and Bridge Fund, which totals close to three-million dollars.  

County commissioners made several cuts and adjustments to the budget throughout their budget discussions, including from county departments and outside entities.  Another of those entities appeared before commissioners during their meeting on Tuesday inquiring about the reason for the cut in their allocation.  Board members of the Lake County Conservation District questioned why their allocation had been cut by nearly 50-percent, and were told that all outside entities had been cut in half or more.  Commissioner Dennis Slaughter said that commissioners looked within the county departments first before making the cuts to other agencies.

The board members also said that the Conservation District takes care of the maintenance of several county dams, which they said will get harder to do with the district’s other expenses and less money from the county. Commissioners encouraged the board members to look into possible grants or other revenue sources also going forward, as the county is limited on how much money it can bring in through growth.  Commission Administrative Officer Shelli Gust said that the county’s taxes levied for next year were figured based on three-percent CPI and growth of one-point-three-six-percent.  

As part of the county’s 2023 budget resolution approved by commissioners are the county’s tax levies for the next year.  Auditor Paula Barrick said that the total taxes levied by the county is just more than four-point-seven million dollars, with a levy of two-point-four-seven-five, which is a decrease from the current year’s levy. 

September 21, 2022