Property owners in Schuylkill County likely won’t see an increase in their county real estate levy.

Commissioners on Wednesday approved a preliminary budget that calls for the property tax rate to remain at 15.98 mils, the same as this year’s levy.

That means that if there are no changes before a final spending plan is adopted on Dec. 20, the owner of a property assessed at $80,000 would continue to pay $1,278.40 in real estate tax. The per capita tax remains at $5 per person.

County Financial Director Paul E. Buber said the budget process began in August.

He worked with the county team, which includes County Administrator Gary R. Bender and Financial Analyst Christopher Kerns to compose the budget.

The overall budget comes to $200,502.840, Buber said.

The General Fund, or operating, budget is $83,361,321.

Buber said that early in the process, the General Fund expenditures exceeded revenues by $16,697,524.

The team worked to reduce that to $6,271,834 by drawing $10,425,690 from the unassigned fund balance.

However, Buber said, “commissioners may want to consider other options.”

Buber pointed to several factors that contributed to increases.

Among them are a 3%, or $645,000, compensatory increase for all employees except elected officials; a 15%, or about $2,500,000, increase in health care costs (Buber said a big driver of health care costs “are the new drugs coming into the marketplace); a 17%, or about $110,000, increase for comprehensive insurance; a 55%, or about $720,000, increase for outsourcing of prisoners, and a 10%, or about $422,818, increase for the county allocation to the Children and Youth Services Agency.

“After drawing $10,425,690, a sufficient amount of funds will remain in the unassigned fund balance to cover the cash flow squeeze for the months of January and February until tax revenue is collected in March,” he said.

“This will be the sixth year for no tax increase,” Buber said.

He also mentioned that the 911 Communications Center requested a $5.9 million project that includes an upgrade to a voice recorder, an additional tower site in Union Township and the purchase of 18 radios.

If commissioners approve the project, it will most likely be financed, with the first payment due in 2025.

Also, Buber said, the “911 statute sunsets on Jan. 31, 2024, and the 911 tariff revenue has been budgeted at a flat amount for the 2024 budget.

“Commissioners, I understand there are some discussions occurring behind the scenes concerning the 911 tariff, however at this point there is nothing on the table on concerning an increase in the tariff fee.

“So therefore we’re being conservative in how we’re budgeting this for 2024 and we’re keeping it at a flat amount,” he said.

Commissioners Chairman Barron L. Hetherington said he spoke on Tuesday with state Sen. David G. Argall, who told him the rate would likely stay the same for another year, “which means were covered about 40 percent of the cost.”

Commissioners in October passed the resolution support of an increase in the states 911 surcharge to help fund emergency communication centers. The legislation authorizing the surcharge, currently $1.65 on every phone line, sunsets on Jan. 31, 2024.

The county supports an increase in the surcharge to $2.30, with a15-cent annual increase until the next reauthorization. The increase means an extra 65 cents a month for consumers.

As it stands now, revenue from the surcharge funds, 57% of the county’s 911 Communication Center costs, with the remaining 43% coming from property tax revenue.

Buber said the team would continue to look for ways to cut costs.

The budget is available in the commissioners’ office for those who want to read it, and will be posted on the county website, Buber said.

The $83,361,321 general fund budget calls for revenues of $72,935,631 supplemented by about $10,425,690 from the general fund unassigned fund balance.

The preliminary budget includes $2,087,101 for debt service; $70.000 for the capital projects fund account; $460,000 for the capital reserve fund account; and $360,000 for Workers’ Compensation.

Other items are local use funds, with expenditures of $951,500 and revenues of $812,500; liquid fuels, with expenditures of $1,953,296 and revenues of $789,500; demolition, with expenditures of $2,041,430 and revenues $1,313,000; Farmland Preservation, with expenditures of $372,136 and revenues of $124,581; the Human services Complex, with expenditures of $279,882 and revenues of $246,732; the 911 Communications Center, with expenditures of $8,031,078 and revenues of the same amount; the American Rescue Plan Act, with expenditures of $11,507,275 and revenues of $406,000; tax reassessment, with expenditures of $6,301,701 and revenues of $215,400.