News photo by Steve Schulwitz The Alpena County Commission will consider the proposed 2024 budget during a special budget workshop on Tuesday. During the meeting, commissioners discussed firing police officers and selling some county-owned property.
ALPENA — The Alpena County Commission will consider firing sheriff’s deputies, leaving maintenance positions vacant and selling county-owned properties to reduce a large projected budget deficit in 2024. there is a possibility.
During a special budget workshop on Tuesday, the board reviewed the fund and proposed budgets for county agencies that would not rely on the general fund, but near the end of the meeting, County Executive Mary Katherine Hanna told commissioners He said he has found some solutions. This could narrow the budget shortfall, estimated at about $2.3 million by the end of 2024.
None of the proposed cuts were implemented at Tuesday’s board meeting.
Hanna shared some ideas the board could consider to narrow the gap between projected revenues and expenses. Those include reducing police personnel, not filling maintenance jobs and selling off county-owned parcels of land at the M-County intersection. 32 and Airport Road.
To cover the costs of county deputies on the Huron Undercover Drug Enforcement Team, the board transferred $100,000 to the general fund from a county account that included funds the county received from settlements with pharmaceutical companies.
“We put pen to paper and the adjustments we made today have reduced our budget deficit to $891,000,” Hanna said. “It’s not pretty, but we managed to get there. That’s a potential course of action.”
Another way to reduce the shortfall, Hanna said, would be to allow the District 4 Health Department not to pay $104,000 in rent to the county next year, taking that amount from the roughly $300,000 requested by the health department. It is said that the amount should be deducted. That would shave another $100,000 off the red numbers on the spending side of the budget.
Hanna said there is still a lot of work to be done in the budgeting process.
He said before the next workshop, the county needs to figure out how many employees will be enrolled in the county’s health insurance program, and consider expanding with that in mind. It is also likely that reductions will be considered.
At the beginning of the budget, Hanna proposed a property tax increase of up to 2.5 million for public safety. This will provide relief to the General Fund and ensure sufficient funding to maintain current staffing and service levels for the County Sheriff’s Office. .
The tax would bring in about $2.8 million in additional revenue annually, which would also be used for courts, emergency management services and other public safety needs.
The $2.5 million tax would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $125 a year.
If the commission decides to move forward with the tax increase request, it will likely be on the ballot in a special election in May.
The county’s budget year runs from January 1st to December 31st.
Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689, sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.
