The Monroe County Commissioners presented the budget for 2022 in the amount of $210.9 million, including a general fund budget of $65.4 million.

Monroe County’s millage rate will remain at 3.2273 mills with 2.7443 mills being utilized for general purposes and 0.4830 mills designated for debt service obligation.

The breakdown includes:

Personnel

All nonunion employees will receive a 3% cost-of-living adjustment beginning on Jan. 1.

Six new full-time positions are being added in the departments of Voter Registration, Public Defender, Courts, and District Attorney.

Vice Chairman John Moyer explained the salary study for the county, beginning with the salaries for nonunion positions, which were reviewed and adjusted upward in 2021 where needed to be competitive with the salaries paid for comparable positions in surrounding counties.

Any current employees not earning the new minimum salaries were raised to meet those minimums.

During 2022, some employees will see increases in their salary to reflect their years of service in positions where minimum salaries were adjusted.

Another big change is supervisors’ salaries will be adjusted as needed to differentiate them based on years of tenure from the employees they supervise.

One last change to personnel is longevity bonuses of $250 will be added to the base salaries of employees who have been with the county longer than 20 years.

Health care rates will remain the same for 2022.

Retirement costs are budgeted at $3.89 million, making the 2022 budget $60,000 less than budgeted in 2021.

Capital projects and Reserve Funds

The budget total is $64,381,048, which includes the following: county dam repair; correctional facility, capital project repairs; facilities projects; general repairs; courthouse and annex building heat pump repairs; the McMichaels Creek repair reserve; park and recreation field improvements; and the courthouse expansion, contracts, engineering, FFE and other.

Grant revenue totals $51.1 million, with $25.6 American Rescue Plan; $22.4 million for Health and Human Services; $2.3 million for courts and court related services; and $852,943 for public safety.

Moyer stated the significant increase in the budget was due to the courthouse expansion project, and Commissioner John Christy explained the computer capital purchase includes the new software for the district attorney and the public defender.

The commissioners thanked the fiscal department and Director of Human Resources Bonnie Ace-Sattur for their work in preparing the 2022 budget.