Schuylkill County property owners will pay more in 2014, as the commissioners on Wednesday approved the budget containing the first real estate tax hike in nine years.
"That's the last thing we wanted to do," commissioners Chairman Frank J. Staudenmeier said of the 2-mill increase. "We held it ... as long as we could."
The county's $53,733,255 spending plan will be funded by a real estate tax of 13.98 mills, up from 11.98 mills.
With the county's average residential property having an assessed value of $29,640, the increase will mean the owners of such a property will pay $59.28 more in real estate taxes in 2014 than they did in 2013. The county per capita tax remains at $5.
All three commissioners voted for the budget and tax hike as the only realistic choice for a county that must do certain things for its residents.
"There are major challenges," Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. said. "Our expenses are higher. We are extremely sensitive to the struggles of everyone out there."
Commissioner Gary J. Hess, the lone Democrat on the three-member board, also said the tax hike had to be approved.
"This had been a difficult thing to do," he said. "You never know what's going to come around the corner. We tried to save everything we could. There are a lot of services out there. A lot of costs are catching up with us."
Hess said the commissioners had to dip into the county general fund in order to balance the budget even with the tax hike.
Children & Youth comprises the largest share of the budget, with total expenditures of more than $17 million.
The Office of Senior Services and Mental Health/Developmental Services also are each getting more than $6 million from the budget.
Staudenmeier said those figures reflect the importance of what county government does.
"The reason county government exists is to protect our children, provide services to our seniors, incarcerate people when they need to be incarcerated and ensure the safety of all the residents of Schuylkill County via our 911 center," he said.
Schuylkill County last raised taxes in 2004, when millage went to 11.98 from 8.88. After that, the county did not face another budget deficit until 2008. Although it has faced deficits in the last five years, it used the general fund to balance the budget without raising taxes, but Hess said the commissioners could no longer do so without imperiling the future.
Halcovage said the three commissioners unite to try to produce the best budget possible for everyone in the county.
"We work well together. We have good discussions," he said. "We're also taxpayers. We did not do anything without keeping these thoughts in mind."