by Jackie Nunnery
LANCASTER—Some revisions in the county budget, mainly involving contributions, followed a public hearing last Thursday on Lancaster’s $35,356,424 proposal for next year.
The proposed real estate tax rate of $0.65 per $100 of assessed value, up from the current $0.59 ($0.57 equalized rate, after the recent reassessment), was also discussed. The new property tax levy would generate an additional $2,227,632 in revenue for the county, much of which is expected to be held in reserve.
Estimated expenditures are expected to remain flat. County administrator Don Gill noted that last year the board “adopted a 7% fund balance-to-expenditure ratio, so that the fund balance did not fall below 7% of expenditures.”
Gill explained that $0.02 of the tax increase is for “capital improvement items for FY 20 that will be paid for out of the general operating expenditures instead of a separate borrowing, which has been done in the past.” Another $0.01 of the tax increase is proposed to be set aside for future schools.
During the public comments, Healthy Harvest…