Summit County manager and finance staff preview proposed 2024 budget and options for closing a multi-million-dollar gap

County manager and finance staff gave the council a work-session preview of the proposed manager's budget and the fiscal issues expected through the winter budget process.

Staff said the draft package shows an increase in recommended appropriations (presented in the meeting slides as $1,000,000 recommended and described on one slide as an 18.9% increase), and noted department requests for roughly 18–20 new full‑time positions in preliminary requests, with the budget committee trimming that list to a smaller set for recommendation. Staff also described about $3,000,000 in one-time items and asked council to consider using some reserves for those projects rather than raising taxes.

Finance staff discussed options to close an anticipated gap between revenues and expenses (figures cited in the meeting included an $7.5 million shortfall in a presented slide), including rebudgeting multi-million-dollar capital projects into 2024, using one-time fund balances for one-time expenditures and pursuing a truth-in-taxation request to raise recurring revenues if necessary. Staff emphasized statutory notice deadlines, upcoming schedule for public involvement and that the manager's budget will be refined in coming weeks.

Council members asked about fund-balance minimums and caps, snow- and road-season spending, staffing cost assumptions and the timing of capital projects; staff responded that the general fund has a state-code minimum of 10% of estimated revenues and a cap of 50%, and that road projects and deferred work affect year-to-year timing of fund uses. The council discussed priorities for the 2024 strategic plan that will feed into budget choices.