Commissioners pass budget, look to assign blame for ‘precarious’ finances

Surplus funds will be used to offset a nearly $15 million deficit.

By RICH CHOLODOFSKY
TribLive

The Westmoreland County commissioners on Thursday passed a $466 million budget for 2026 that holds the line on property taxes despite a nearly $15 million deficit.

The shortfall will be offset by surplus funds. To reach the final figure, commissioners slashed an anticipated $30 million deficit in half through personnel cuts, the postponement of capital projects and the reallocation of federal funds.

“We think it’s sustainable year to year. Obviously for 24 (months), the next 36 months. That’s our goal to try and get through this for the next three years without asking the taxpayers for anything,” said Commissioner Sean Kertes.

Property taxes will remain steady at 28.8 mills, with 25 mills allocated to the general fund budget and 3.48 mills used to pay off more than $14.2 million in existing debt. The commissioners last increased taxes in 2024.

The average property, assessed at $21,279, will carry a tax bill of just less than $532 in 2026, according to the county’s finance office. Each mill of taxes generates about $4 million for the county.

The budget includes $176.4 million allocated for general county operations financed through local taxes and fees for services. General operations is where the majority of changes were made to the preliminary budget unveiled last month that originally listed a projected $30 million deficit.

To close that gap, commissioners reallocated $6.4 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds that had previously been set aside for installation of broadband internet projects in the county and demolition and rehabilitation of blighted properties.

Commissioners said state and federal grants will replace the county’s covid-relief funds dedicated to broadband projects while $1.6 million will be trimmed from the original $10 million allocation to the county’s Redevelopment Authority to demolish blighted properties. Another $2 million will be transferred from the county’s capital reserve funds, said Finance Director Meghan McCandless.

Meanwhile, commissioners slashed more than $5.7 million in expenses, including $1.9 million in personnel costs through cuts to overtime and the elimination of 10 vacant positions. Another $3 million in planned capital projects will be delayed until at least 2027.

A number of outside agencies, including the Westmoreland County Airport Authority, transit authority and libraries will continue to be funded at current levels.

The annual allocation to Westmoreland County Community College will be cut by more than $400,000 in 2026, about $500,000 more than what was first proposed in the preliminary budget.

“A lot of the cost containment we’ve done recently should have been started by previous boards, well before Commissioner Kertes and I ever got here,” Commissioner Doug Chew said. “Our biggest issues such as health care and costs are hard to contain in a limited time.”

Kertes and Chew have been commissioners since the start of 2020.

Commissioner Ted Kopas served on the board for nearly a decade before he was ousted at the end of 2019 and returned to the board in 2023.

“Somebody has to start owning this,” Kopas said. “…. It’s been six years, and I’ve been sitting here with them for two of them. You can’t just keep going back in time saying the guy who is no longer here, the woman who no longer here, is to blame for where we are. We are where we are and we all should be responsible, all three of us, for what remains a precarious financial situation.

“I voted for the budget,” Kopas said, “but I would have liked to see us go a little bit further on some cost containment measures but this is realistic.”