No tax changes in Randolph County's balanced budget

Randolph County officials will spend month deciding on changes to the tentative budget, which is currently balanced at $154,592,290.

June marks the start of the county's budget season, a multi-week period in which local governments finalize budgets for the upcoming fiscal year.

Randolph officials publicly discussed the budget at their Tuesday-evening meeting. Further discussions are scheduled for June 9 and a public hearing on June 13.

Additional public hearings can be scheduled at the board's discretion. The 2022-2023 fiscal year starts July 1.

"It maintains services at necessary levels to address the most urgent needs of the county," reads County Manager Hal Johnson's description of the 2022-2023 budget in the letter accompanying the budget.

County officials managed to balance the budget without changes to the current tax rate, which stands at  $0.63 per $100 property valuation. The country describes the tax rate as "revenue neutral" in the proposed budget's accompanying letter.

The budget letter describes an active upcoming fiscal year.

"No board of county commissioners, in the history of Randolph County, has had to address as many critical issues as this board of commissioners has faced over the past 6 years," reads a portion of the letter.

Johnson describes financial uncertainty as a primary hurdle in the upcoming fiscal year.

"Our budgetary challenges this year are to again anticipateuncertainty in the economy," reads the letter. "Those uncertainties still exist in this proposed budget. Challenges of the current tight labor market, rising inflation, and expected higher interest rates are trends that may impact economic growth."

At the start of the current fiscal year, officials expressed concerns about the impact the pandemic would have on the county.

"Last year, during the budgeting process, we were very concerned with the continuing negative effects of the pandemic," the letter reads. "Our expectations were that there would be a significant economic negative impact from the pandemic. The federal stimulus boosted the local economy leading to an increase in sales tax. As a result, the County budget remained strong beyond negative assumptions due to pandemic."

Departmental requests to replace vehicles and other equipment, otherwise known as capital outlay, is also included and for the most part covered, with the exception of requests for additional EMS trucks.

Follow Dean-Paul Stephens on Twitter @DeanPEStephens. If you have tips, send an email to dstephens@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Courier-Tribune: Despite ambitious budget, no tax changes scheduled for Randolph County