The Summit County government is in a race against time to address an operating deficit in its general fund before final approval of the 2025 budget. With the Summit Board of County Commissioners set to vote on the final budget next week, December 10th, the pressure is on to find solutions. According to a recent budget summary, general fund revenues in the draft 2025 budget stand at about $65.3 million, but expected expenditures have outpaced this, creating a deficit of around $1.2 million. Property tax revenues, which are estimated to account for about half of the general fund's revenues at around $32.5 million, are expected to benefit from substantial increases in property valuations and tax revenue due to 2023 property appraisals in 2024 and future years.

Budget Highlights and Staff Adjustments

The draft 2025 budget reveals that the majority of county staff received an average annual merit increase of 3%. Additionally, about 20 positions had their salaries adjusted after a new wage survey showed their pay to be "significantly below market." Recent increases in pay for Sheriff's Office personnel are also noted. At a work session on Tuesday, November 19th, when discussing the budget with the Summit County Sheriff's Office, county finance department staff pointed out that the Sheriff's Office accounts for some of the largest budget increases in recent years.

Budget Requests and Reserve Use

The Summit County Sheriff's Office budget request in the 2025 draft budget shows an increase of about $3.7 million over the 2024 approved budget. However, this figure takes into account the removal of its fifth mental health co-responder team and a sergeant for the System-wide Mental Assessment Response Team (S.M.A.R.T.). County finance director David Reynolds noted that the county has used about $2.6 million in reserves from its Safety First Fund to cover a portion of the Sheriff's Office increase, but this option won't be available next year. Undersheriff Peter Haynes stated that the $3.7 million number includes about $500,000 due to changes in how donations to animal control are calculated into the budget, bringing the total increase closer to $3.2 million. Reynolds explained that the increases at the Sheriff's Office are largely driven by significant wage and salary increases implemented after an informal wage and salary review in 2021 and a formal survey in 2023. New positions and the "step" program, which provides annual wage increases between 5-7% to certain law enforcement positions for their first five years of service and was implemented by the Sheriff's Office in 2022, contribute a much smaller portion to the budget increase.

Commissioner's Demands and Sheriff's Response

Commissioner Tamara Pogue noted that due to Summit County's tourism economy, the county needs to staff public safety departments to be prepared for the busiest periods rather than based on population. Commissioner Eric Mamula asked where the budget increase at the Sheriff's Office goes from here. FitzSimons responded that the county may need to ask voters to approve a ballot measure in the coming years to raise more money for public safety. Pogue asked the Sheriff's Office to propose a way to help reduce about half of the general fund deficit, around $600,000, without removing the fourth S.M.A.R.T. unit included in its 2025 draft budget. FitzSimons emphasized the importance of the S.M.A.R.T. program, stating that it benefits everyone in the community.

Sheriff's Proposed Cost Reductions

Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons said in an email this week that his office plans to propose $640,000 in possible cost reductions but cannot provide details at this time. He oversees eight separate budgets, including those for sheriff's administration, detentions, animal control, emergency management, S.M.A.R.T., the Strategies to Avoid Relapse and Recidivism program, search and rescue, and water rescue. FitzSimons noted that the fifth S.M.A.R.T. unit and a sergeant for the program have already been removed from his office's draft budget, amounting to about $550,000 in cuts. He remains committed to navigating the budget process with the Board of County Commissioners, as public safety is a critical function of local government.