Delaware County council hears budget with $5.57M projected balance; $964,559 in givebacks noted

The Delaware County Council on the budget hearing recited a working 2027 county-general ending balance of $5,572,944 and discussed confirmed department "givebacks" of $964,559 that staff said would raise the projected ending balance to nearly $6.0 million. Chair (speaker 1) said the council's target is to preserve an approximate $5.5 million cash buffer to avoid borrowing during the year and set a final adoption meeting for next Wednesday at 9 a.m.

Several council members urged caution about treating the full giveback amount as recurring revenue. One member (speaker 3) said, "I don't know that we would assume the givebacks would be as strong as...965,000," and emphasized department heads are already being asked to cut budgets. Auditor staff corrected one chart detail: public-safety ending balance was updated to $1,052,794, a change staff recorded during the hearing. The council directed the auditor's office to incorporate agreed personnel adjustments and run final FICA and PERF figures so members can confirm numbers before the adoption vote.