Lebanon County Commissioners on Thursday, Dec. 5, approved by a 2-1 split vote a tentative $104.1 million county fiscal budget for 2025 that does not include a tax increase.
The budget increases by about $9.7 million over fiscal year 2024’s $94.4 million budget.
Commissioner Jo Ellen Litz was the lone “no” vote, citing several issues she has with the proposed budget. The budget is available for public review for 20 days as required by law.
The county’s millage will remain at 4.3925 mills if the budget is approved at a special meeting on Dec. 26, which is the first day after the 20-day review period.
A homeowner next year will continue to pay about $4.39 in property tax for every $1,000 of assessed value on their home. The last county real estate millage increase occurred in 2024.
County administrator Jamie Wolgemuth provided an overview, saying general fund expenses are a primary focus during the budget process since those are funds that come into county coffers through property taxes and other fees the county imposes.
“So that is going up by 7, 8 percent,” said Wolgemuth. “Largely is responsible for those increases in terms of technology and such.”
Wolgemuth provided some good budgetary news to commissioners – especially compared to prior years.
“The general fund revenue is seeing a slight increase of $1.174 million, or 1.95 percent in the last several years,” said Wolgemuth. “That’s a higher number than we’ve been seeing. We’ve seen it hover right around 1 percent, but 1.95 percent, almost 2 percent is a higher number than we’ve seen in the last several years. So that’s good news.”
There was additional good news for county taxpayers.
“Growth in the assessed value of properties is up 1.12 percent. Again, that’s been somewhere in the neighborhood of a half a percent to 1 percent. So 1.12 is a number that’s good to see,” said Wolgemuth.
The bad news is that those numbers do not match the rate of inflation.
“These percentages that you see, 1.95 percent, 1.12 percent are not anywhere near what we’ve seen of inflation for the last couple of years,” added Wolgemuth. “And in order to do so, millage was adjusted for 2023 and for 2020, I’m sorry, for 2022 and 2024 just because we just haven’t been keeping up in terms of revenue with inflation.”
Wolgemuth said the budget will use $3 million in cash carryover, which was set aside for 2025 payrolls and health insurance payments, to balance the budget.
“That is something that we typically do, that those funds are available to carry us through the first few months before the tax revenue begins to flow in March and April,” he said. “And we are able to count that toward revenue for 2025 and using that to make the budget balance by $3 million.”
Wolgemuth highlighted several major capital projects for 2025, including security and surveillance upgrades at the county prison and implementation the county’s payroll, payables, finance, and HR software. That computer technology was first installed in 1999, and is being replaced in 2025 at a cost of $1.45 million.
“We have seen significant cost increases and this is largely responsible and pretty much will add up to the $3 million that we’re facing here in the deficit and the need for cash carryover in replacements and upgrades to technology and the second of three years of security upgrades at the jail,” he said.
“That is the biggest year for it because it’s the implementation year. We intend to be ready to roll it out in January of 2026,” he added.
Concerning the prison, Wolgemuth said the county will replace all the controls that activate the doors and gates as well as some surveillance in the system.
“We’re replacing surveillance and backfilling surveillance,” said Woglemuth. “There are places in the jail where we could utilize some more coverage and we’re going to do that, coming at a cost of about $900,000 for the second phase in 2025.”
Wolgemuth said the county’s contract with Harrisburg-based PrimeCare Medical for comprehensive health-care services at the county prison is rising by 4 percent to about $3.6 million.
“In addition to the usual health-care contract for inmates, we are also implementing medication assisted treatment in 2025,” said Wolgemuth. “That’s been discussed at the prison board (meetings) at length and this is for treatment of opiate addictions and beginning medication assisted treatment as soon as someone enters the facility if they’re addicted to opiates. We are utilizing some funds from the opioid settlement but that doesn’t cover all of it.”
Wolgemuth said the county is taking a proactive approach by introducing this new initiative since Allegheny County was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice and forced to launch a medication assisted treatment program.
“It’s on the horizon that pretty much every facility will either be. If you wait, you’ll be forced by the Department of Justice or you can get started on your own and basically be left alone by the Department of Justice as long as your program meets the requirements,” he said. “So, that’s something that’s going to be new at the jail.”
Wolgemuth said the county continues to contend with hiring challenges across several departments for recruitment and retention and will conduct a $95,000 salary study in 2025 to address these needs. The last salary study for county employees occurred in 2021.
“This is aimed at analyzing and comparing existing and starting salaries with other counties with the market, et cetera,” he said. “We hope to have it completed in 2025 and for the budget for 2026. Look at implementing any recommendations that the study may give us.”
Wolgemuth noted the county hovers between 620 and 635 employees, adding that it’s a “tight corridor” of movement of only 15 individuals on a monthly basis.
“That tells us we are maintaining a steady number of employees overall. But with 760 positions at the county, we still have a lot of vacancies – and our vacancy rate currently is about 18 percent across our organization,” he said.
The vacancy rate is 30 percent, specifically, at the county prison. That deficit requires personnel to make operational changes to account for inadequate staffing levels.
“There is a lot of mandatory overtime being required there and general overtime,” said Wolgemuth. “They’re having a tough time. It’s across the state, it’s across the industry. The warden is doing her best along with HR to come up with creative or new ways to try to hire.”
County employee salary increases for 2025 are 4 percent for social services and the county detectives union and 3.5 percent for court-appointed professionals (union) and court-related non-professionals. The other two remaining unions – AFSCME at the jail and Chocolate Workers for the 911 telecommunicators – are both in contract negotiations with county officials.
Other employee costs include a health insurance premium increase of 8.8 percent, or $905,000.
“We had a fortunate year last year where it only went up by 2 percent.That was unusual,” said Wolgemuth. “Medical inflation alone is 8 percent, so it’s not surprising to see this number, but in terms of dollars, that’s a big increase.”
Wolgemuth added that the county’s contribution to the pension fund is budgeted at over $3 million and will be paid from the general fund and agency reimbursements from those that are funded by the state.
“Keeping up with those payments, the pension fund’s critical to maintain a funded pension for current and future retirees,” he said. “I recall we were about 84 percent funded, which is a safe number, a safe place to be.”
Other 2025 planned capital projects include:
- Replacement of kitchen appliances and lawn maintenance equipment at the county prison.
- Replacement/upgrade of tasers in the sheriff’s department and replacement of protective vests in the sheriff’s department and county detective unit.
- Expansion of cooling capacity for the county’s IT servers.
- Repairs to the air conditioning cooling towers at the county municipal building.
- Continued renovations to former city and Department of Emergency Services offices. The creation of asbestos abatement and mechanical engineering plans and implementation are part of this project.
- Development of a new countywide comprehensive plan, with the county matching a state grant of $87,000.
Following the 2-1 split vote to approve the tentative budget, Litz said she is opposed to it for two reasons.
She said she opposes approving the PrimeCare contract for medical services at the county prison without seeking new bids, and what she called a “$50,000 donation” to Penn State University.
Commission chairman Bob Phillips called Litz’s remark about PrimeCare disingenuous, adding that it should have been discussed in August or September when the prison budget was being discussed. He added that while he appreciates her conscientiousness, he finds her timing to be flawed.
Wolgemuth said the county does not make a donation to Penn State and that the funding is used to provide extension services within Lebanon County. It was also stated that each county pays a fee.
Litz said she opposes spending that funding because the county already provides “free office space” at the Lebanon Valley Agricultural Center, which is jointly owned by the Lebanon Valley Expo and Lebanon County municipal government, for Penn State Cooperative Extension.
In other business not related to the budget, commissioners agreed to:
- Sign conflict criminal attorney services contracts for 2025 with two law firms to provide legal services for indigent defendants in Lebanon County Court. The law offices of Buzgon Davis and Jacobson Julius & Harshberger both will be compensated $400 per half-day of service and $250 for jury selection if that process is completed in a half-day. Buzgon Davis will provide attorneys for up to four criminal defendants per month while Jacobson Julius & Harshberger will represent up to seven clients monthly.
- Agree to sign two separate contracts for the juvenile unit of the county’s probation services with two providers for bed space. The one contract is for one bed in the Manor Detention in Cambria County that’s owned by service provider Adelphoi Village. The other agreement is with the Community Treatment Center for four youth to be housed at the facility. The county agreed to include an emergency provision of $8,000 if the minimum number of beds are not filled. It is anticipated that falling below the minimal threshold will not be an issue.
- Provide hotel tax grant requests in the amount of $2,500 each for the Singing Cedar Chorus and Mancino’s Pizza Yule Bazaar for upcoming events in 2025.
- Reappoint Daniel Keller and Barry Ansel to the Lebanon County Health Facilities Authority and appoint Larry Bowman to fill out the term following Christopher Gebhard’s resignation.
- Send a lobbying certification form to the Pennsylvania Department of Health stating that county officials will not use state funds provided by that department for lobbying purposes.
- Grant full real estate tax exemptions for seven disabled veterans or their families.
- Issue separate proclamations to John Gerdes and Michael “Micky” Santora. Gerdes was recognized for his work with the Lebanon Valley Exposition Center while Santora was honored for his service to the Annville Palmyra Sertoma Club.
- Accept the minutes of their Nov. 21 meeting, the treasurer’s report, and various personnel transactions.
Lebanon County Commissioners meet the first and third Thursday of each month in room 207 of the county municipal building at 400 S. 8th St., Lebanon. A special meeting will be held on Thursday, Dec. 26, at 9:30 a.m. to consider approval of the 2025 budget, which is currently available for public review at the county municipal building.
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