Portage commissioners working to trim budget

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Portage commissioners working to trim budget
Portage commissioners working to trim budget

Departments within Portage County government are being asked to trim their budget requests for 2025 after asking for $11.7 million more than the county has to spend.

Jaclyn Petty, director of budget and financial management, has told commissioners the county’s 30 departments turned in about $80 million in budget requests, which is $11,747,061 more than the county’s budget of $68,270,275.

Petty said her staff worked with each department to reduce wage increases to step increases, or 1.25% for departments not on the wage scale, as well as removing expenses such as large furniture purchases.

When she presented the data to commissioners, three departments still were over budget − Prosecutor’s Office, Sheriff’s Office and Board of Elections.

Petty said she since has met with the finance manager in the Sheriff’s Office and has resolved its shortfall.

This screenshot from a recent meeting of Portage County Commissioners shows three departments over budget - the sheriff's office, the Board of Elections and the prosecutor. Since then, the sheriff's budget issues have been resolved, but the other issues remain.

That leaves a shortfall of just over $2 million in the Board of Elections and $888,668 in the Prosecutor’s Office. Commissioners, she said, now must decide how to resolve those shortfalls.

Petty said the Board of Elections’ shortfall includes about $1.5 million in equipment, which is paid through a contingency fund, leaving the shortfall at about $500,000.

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