MANSFIELD — Richland County commissioners are nearing the end of 2023 budget hearings with department heads and elected officials.
The commissioners, who met Tuesday with representatives from the county coroner’s office, Dayspring and county maintenance department, have four more such hearings on Thursday.
The final session will likely come next week with the county auditor’s office.
After that comes the work of trimming down the requests. A final spending plan for 2023 is expected by the end of the year.
Commissioner Tony Vero has said department requests are just that — requests. The county general fund budget in 2022 was $39.3 million.
He said current 2023 budget requests total $43.7 million.
“I think we will have to cut a couple of million (from requests),” Vero said Tuesday. “All of the budget requests have been reasonable. I can tell department heads and elected officials are putting in a lot of time.”
“We asked for a lot of changes (when he and Commissioner Darrell Banks took office). They have a good idea of what we are looking for. We haven’t seen one unreasonable request yet.”
On Tuesday, the coroner’s office requested $360,000 for autopsies, double what was allotted in 2022. The local office pays for needed autopsies to be done in Montgomery County.
Vero said suicides are running higher than last year. Earlier this year, the coroner’s office also reported drug overdose deaths were higher than 2021.
“I don’t know if we are going to budget that much,” Vero said. “It’s pay-as-you-go. If we need more, we can allot more next year.”
Vero said the maintenance department requested $1 million for capital improvements in 2023, primarily roof work on county buildings, HVAC upgrades, etc.
That doesn’t include the American Rescue Plan Act funding being used to renovate the courthouse in the creation of a fourth courtroom for the general division of the Common Pleas Division.
On Thursday, commissioners are scheduled to meet with leaders from the juvenile court, clerk of courts/auto title, the engineer’s office and the board of elections.
