A few minor tweaks, and Carbon County’s 2018 spending plan was in place as of Thursday.

The $56,467,003 budget will keep the property tax rate at 10.25 mills, the same as this year.

That means the owner of a property assessed at $50,000 would again pay $512.50 in county real estate tax.

Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne E. Nothstein said some minor changes were made between the budget’s preliminary approval on Nov. 16 and its adoption.

The changes included $80,000 added to the animal shelter budget to reflect bequeathed money, and $157,000 for the 911 interconnectivity towers project was bumped to the next budget because the project will not be completed this year.

The total budget breaks down to $42,585,062 in operating funds; $11,090,784 in capital projects; and $2,791,157 in special funds.

Capital fund projects include $5 million for the new office building on Susquehanna Street, $2 million for the fire training project and a couple of other projects, including courthouse roof repairs, a new software program for the sheriff’s office, a new financial system, replacing the New World system.

Other projects include a new facility for maintenance and demolition of the archives building/maintenance garage on Susquehanna Street as part of the new office project.

Special funds will be used for communications center improvements. The revenue, generated for the county through the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, comes from surcharges on telephone landlines and cellphones.

The budgets of the district attorney, adult probation, public defender, and sheriff’s offices all rose, said county financial consultant Jeff Weiss.

The budget for the district attorney’s office is rising from about $918,000 this year to a projected $960,000 in 2018; the adult probation office from about $977,000 to $1,050,000; the public defender’s office from about $592,000 to about $657,000; and the sheriff’s department from $1.1 million to $1.25 million, Weiss said.

In November, county Controller Robert Crampsie blamed the drug epidemic for driving those increases.

Nothstein said the increase in court needs is due to a heavier workload resulting from the sharp spike in drug-related cases, coupled with a drop in property tax revenue made crafting the spending plan challenging.

Commissioners also are wary of cuts in state funding when Pennsylvania adopts its budget in July.

All three commissioners, Thomas J. Gerhard, William J. O’Gurek and Nothstein, voted in favor of the 2018 county budget.

Nothstein said the county coroner told him there have been 22 confirmed overdose deaths in the county so far this year.