By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The sales tax revenue in Wood County still provides the county budget with the biggest boost – though the annual increase has shrunk in the last two years.
On Thursday, the county commissioners approved appropriations for 2025 totaling $55 million. The budget is a 4.5% increase over the 2024 appropriations.
Wood County Administrator Carri Stanley did not bother to sugar coat the recent ransomware attack, which cost the county $1.5 million.
“Despite the recent cybersecurity incident,” she said addressing the expensive elephant in the room, “Wood County finances remain healthy going into 2025.”
Sales tax, the largest revenue source for the county, had minimal growth for the second year in a row, Stanley cautioned. During COVID, legislation was passed allowing county governments to collect sales tax on local items sold online. But the $29 million collected this year through sales tax, was a disappointing 0.9% increase. That’s a drop from last year’s lackluster sales tax revenue growth of 1.35%.
That slowed growth was offset by investment income bringing in about $8 million.
“Investment income increased, allowing the county to meet revenue goals and proceed with necessary capital projects,” Stanley said. “We will continue to closely monitor revenue and expenses in the coming year.”
Meanwhile, the county expects interest rates to decrease over the next two years, she added.
The county’s 2025 appropriations prioritize the security of the county’s digital data and computer network.
The budget also includes a wage increase for county employees.
“To recognize the efforts of existing employees, we agreed to provide a wage increase of 3.5% to the salary schedule for employees in the commissioners’ departments, as well as those in the Prosecutor’s, Recorder’s, Court Security, and Public Defender’s offices for 2025,” stated a letter sent out to county employees on Thursday.
An increase of 3.5% will also be made to the salary line items, calculated from the personnel services schedule, for all remaining elected officials and general fund departments.
Commissioner Craig LaHote commented after the meeting that he was pleased the county was able to provide raises for its employees, totaling just over 1,000 people.
At the same time, the county is facing a 14% increase in health insurance costs, and a 12% increase in liability insurance costs, Stanley pointed out.
The 2025 budget includes several capital projects and equipment purchases for county offices, including:
- Six hybrid Ford Explorer patrol vehicles for the Wood County Sheriff’s Office.
- New dispatch stations for the sheriff’s office.
- Cubicle renovation and HVAC improvements for the Wood County Department of Job & Family Services.
- New voter registration software for the Wood County Board of Elections.
- New security screening system for Wood County Juvenile Court.
Construction will start early next year on several previously approved projects, including the Courtroom 1 office renovation project, the Clerk of Court’s Auto Title Office remodeling, and a roof replacement at the Juvenile Detention Center.
Three new positions were also funded – a recruiter and a program manager for the Fellowship Program at the Department of Job & Family Services, and a drainage engineer for the Engineer’s Office.
As 2024 comes to an end, Assistant County Administrator Dan Scherger pointed out that the jail expansion and renovations are nearly complete. He also noted that the expansion of the county landfill has been approved. The expansion will add an additional six years of space for trash – giving the site room for a total of 100 years of garbage.
Also in 2024, the commissioners received $1 million in state capital fund money to study possible sites and plans for a new county highway garage. (A separate story on that project will be posted later this weekend in the BG Independent News.)
“We have a busy year ahead,” Scherger said.
