County commissioners revised the 2026 budget introduced in November to eliminate what would have been an $11.76 million deficit.

Commissioners met with department heads, row officers and court officials to make revisions resulting in a budget that does not increase taxes and uses $12.90 million from the $21 million fund balance to cover expenditures.

The commissioners unanimously voted Wednesday, Dec. 17, to adopt the $249.8 million budget, which includes an $84.60 million general fund and an $8.09 million fund balance.

During budget planing, the commissioners knew $4 million from the fund balance was needed to cover general fund expenses. An additional $5.5 million from the fund balance would have been needed to pay for capital projects that exceeded the anticipated costs. Another $11.5 million would have been needed to cover higher than expected costs for the prison radio system, the match for the public safety garage grant and buying Ritzert Hall in Evans City. Those costs would have consumed the entire $21 million fund balance.

On top of that, budget requests from county departments totaled $11.76 million.

“That would have wiped us out,” said Leslie Osche, commissioners chairwoman.

She said the commissioners have worked hard to build the fund balance, which was around $1 million when they took office in 2016.

To revise the proposed 2026 budget, the commissioners reallocated some Act 13 money, which the county receives from impact fees the state assessed on gas wells, to cover the cost overages, Osche said.

Other help came from an increase in fees charged for copies of geographical informational system maps and land development applications, and updated property assessment valuation and the cancellation of contract by the prothonotary’s office, said Ann Brown, budget director.

Those revisions reduced the amount needed from the fund balance to $12.90 million.

“We literally called everybody into this room and said, ‘We’ve got a problem. We’ve got to figure this out,’” Osche said.

She said the goal is to have a fund balance equaling two months of expenses, which is $12 million to $14 million. The adopted budget has fund balance of $8.09 million.

Adopting a budget next year without a tax increase for 2027 will be even more challenging, Osche said. The commissioners will focus next year on making five year budget projections, she said.

One mill of taxes generates about $2 million in revenue for the county. The 27.62-mill real estate tax rate for 2026 includes 21.89 mills for general purposes, 2.93 mills for the contribution to Butler County Community College and 2.80 mills for debt service.

The 21.89 mills for general purposes approaches the maximum of 25 mills the county can impose. A 3-mill tax increase would raise $6 million. Court approval would be needed if a larger tax increase is needed, Osche said.

Seeking court approval for a larger tax increase could result in a countywide property value reassessment, she added.

“We know that we have our work cut out for us.” Osche said.

Other factors that impacted the 2026 budget included no increase in state subsidies for human services, Children and Youth Services and emergency services, she said.

Commissioner Kim Geyer said flat funding from the state for decades has forced counties and municipalities to increase spending.

“We only have one trigger pull and that’s property tax,” said Commissioner Kevin Boozel. He said taxes are all the county has to pay for services mandated, but not funded by the state.

Expenditures increased from $81.48 million in 2025 to $84.60 million in the 2026 budget, reflecting an increase of $3.12 million or 3.8%.

Revenue increased from $73.64 million this year to $75.70 million in the 2026 budget, reflecting a $2.05 million, or 2.8%, increase.

Osche said contractual salaries and benefits and utility costs slowed revenue growth.

The total budget of $249.87 million is 2.7% less than this year’s budget total of $257.04 million. The $84.60 million general fund is 3.8% less than this year’s figure of $81.48 million.

Boozel said some people don’t understand why revenue isn’t growing significantly because they see growth in housing and population. The reason is that large corporations are successfully challenging the assessed value of their properties, he said.

Geyer said the housing market is one of many factors impacting county finances. She said permitted houses can’t be taxed until they are built, but builders are struggling to find workers and inflation and high labor and material costs are causing people to delay in buying homes.