ST. CLAIRSVILLE­ — Belmont County’s finances are set for 2024.

On Thursday, the Belmont County Board of Commissioners approved appropriations from the general fund for this year, which came to $36,484,370.19. In 2023, the appropriations totaled $35,270,000, a difference of about $1.2 million. Commissioner J.P, Dutton said the general fund is supplied primarily by sales tax, not property taxes.

“Economic activity has a big impact in terms of what funds are available to run county government,” he said.

He said the sheriff’s budget has traditionally been one of the top expenses for Belmont and other counties, but this year saw a reduction with the sheriff’s budget set at $8,419,688.92 compared to 2023, when it was $8,841,588.24.

“Although there are a lot of cost increases across the county and the sheriff’s office is no different, the reason for the reduction, frankly, right now has been the jail population over the last couple of years,” he said.

He recalled the pressing issue of jail overcrowding prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, when the 144-bed jail had housed almost 200 inmates.

The sheriff has said courts are utilizing other sentencing options such as home monitoring, and there is currently less of a transient workforce.

“Since COVID, you look at the trend line and it really hasn’t approached where it was,” Dutton said, adding that this has also cut down on expenses related to transporting, housing and feeding inmates.

Meanwhile, the sheriff’s office will purchase six new cruisers at about $55,000 each.

The commissioners said most of the other increases across the board are due to rising costs.

“We’ve seen significant price increases in the last few years, and I think that’s reflected a little bit in our budget,” Dutton said. “We try to be as conservative as possible in terms of how we run the budget and how we run our offices.”

He pointed out the commissioners’ staff has been reduced in the past few years.

“There’s not going to be any reduction of services. All services are going to continue. In fact, I think you’re going to see some departments doing things they weren’t able to do before, some elected officials able to do things they weren’t able to do before,” Dutton said.

There are also some increases to Sargus Juvenile Detention Center’s budget, with $1.2 million budgeted for this year compared to $746,000 in 2023. Dutton said the facility houses juveniles from Belmont, Harrison and Monroe counties and is marking 50 years of operation.

“We’re trying to make some changes there in terms of the facility. It’s Belmont County’s responsibility to maintain that facility,” he said.

Dutton said health insurance is another high cost, with $4 million budgeted this year compared to $3.8 million in 2023.

Commissioner Jerry Echemann added that the top challenges were increasing prices and the need to pay good wage increases to retain employees in high-responsibility positions such as law enforcement.

“If you want to keep decent, good people, you’ve got to offer some decent wages,” he said. “I’m glad we can do that, but it’s just another example of how difficult it is to try and keep the numbers in line.”

Dutton also pointed to jobs such as a nurse at the jail, as well as those who work with juvenile inmates.

“You want qualified people in those positions. You don’t want to have just anybody in that position,” he said. “It’s become more challenging. I think everyone knows what the recent labor market’s been like.”

The commissioners commended their staff members for their work on the budget, adding they typically begin in summer.

“We have the hardest-working staff in Belmont County, and when we work on the budget that’s really apparent as well,” Dutton said.

In answer to a question from guest Frank Papini of St. Clairsville, Dutton said oil and gas dollars are not used for general operations.

“Those are treated as one-time expenditures. We think it’s a slippery slope when we start using funding that isn’t really set for day-to-day activities,” Dutton said.

He added that Belmont County’s yearly revenue of about $1 million provided by Ohio casino proceeds is used for facilities projects.

“It’s a slippery slope to start depending on funds that the state could end at any time,” he noted.

The commissioners also instituted some changes suggested by Belmont County Auditor Cindi Henry involving funds carried over from year to year. Henry said the changes were put into effect in 2023.

After the meeting, Henry said funds are now encumbered for specific uses before being transferred from one year to another. She said advancements in technology mean it is no longer necessary to make temporary appropriations and transfer money to cover expenses for the first three months of the upcoming year.

“We’ll only carry over going forward now any legitimate expenditures that incurred in the previous fiscal year,” she said. “We require everyone to close out anything they don’t need, so that the commissioners have a truer dollar figure to work off of for the current year’s appropriations, and that’s what happened. A little more transparent in my opinion, because it’s showing what true cash is. … It’s cleaning up the liquidable cash for budgeting purposes.”

Henry added that the county also invested funds provided by the American Recovery Act.

“We took in quite a bit of interest last year on some of the money we have, which has increased our budget,” she said.

Henry said $15 million was left over in the general fund going into 2023 and $19 million is left going into 2024.

“We’re doing fine financially,” she said.