MANSFIELD — Richland County experienced another good year financially in 2024 and enters 2025 with about $34 million worth of general fund money in various reserve funds, according to the Board of Commissioners.
The county finished 2024 with a $7.9 million general fund budget surplus for the year — $2.2 million of which will go into the county’s “rainy day” fund.
That influx of money into the “budget stabilization” account increases that pot of money to $9.4 million, according to county Commissioner Tony Vero.
What is a rainy day fund for the Board of Commissioners?
“Specifically, it’s just that,” said Commissioner Tony Vero, who was elected Thursday as the board chairman for 2025. “It’s there in case of an emergency.
“The major example we always talk about was the 2009-2010 financial crisis when the county didn’t have a rainy day fund to speak of and they had to furlough employees,” Vero said. “We are setting aside money in the event something like that happens again.”
Adding money to the “rainy day” fund is just one area commissioners moved funds into from the surplus.
— $1.5 million was placed in the board’s carryover fund, pushing that account temporarily to $10.2 million. But almost $1 million of that will go toward assisting the City of Mansfield with the Main Street Corridor Improvement project and part of the funding for an armored rescue vehicle that will serve multiple law enforcement agencies around the county.
— $700,000 was put into the county’s “special reserved” account, raising that total to $1.2 million. Commissioners have said the fund will be used in 2032 when a 27th payroll will be needed for county employees.
— $3.5 million was moved into the county’s capital projects fund, temporarily raising that total to $14.4 million. Vero said $850,000 of that fund has already been allocated, or is expected to be allocated for various projects, including relocation of Wayfinders, an HVAC system for the Richland County Dog Warden & Adoption Center and the Richland County Historical Society for a new terrace at Oak Hill Cottage.
He also said county maintenance superintendent Josh Hicks has about $3.1 million in capital projects already planned over the next three years.
Commissioners in December approved a balanced budget of $46,092,642 for 2025, a 3.2-percent increase over the original 2024 budget.
But they cautioned Thursday there are budgetary warning signs, especially in terms of sales tax, which is the primary revenue driver for county government.
“It looks like (sales tax revenues) are going to be about 1.75 percent better in 2025 than 2024. That’s good,” Vero said. “But there are two negatives in my mind.
“One is this is the second year in a row (sales tax revenues) are not keeping up with inflation. That’s not uncommon across the state of Ohio.
“Also, in the last 19 months, dating back to June of 2023, 11 of those months have been worse from a year-to-date performance standpoint.
“Now we were better overall, but that says to me we now have about a year-and-a-half trend where sales tax, at least, is not keeping up with inflation. While we’ve had good financial performances, it’s something to monitor moving forward,” Vero said.
Commissioner Darrell Banks also expressed concerns that investment interest income, which has become the second-biggest driver of county general fund revenues, may slow in 2025.
The budget for 2025 calls for $3.8 million in investment income.
“What we earned on interest (in 2024) was probably a record and we look for that to fall a little bit (in 2025),” Banks said.
Vero said the interest income “has certainly contributed to our positive financial years in light of a sales tax that isn’t keeping up inflation.”