County’s budget up $1.17M

The fiscal year 2023 budget for Weston County totals $19,167,041.85, an increase of $1.17 million over last year’s budget. 
The budget was approved by the Board of Weston County Commissioners on July 19. Fiscal 2023 began on July 1 and will run through June 30, 2023. 
Most general fund line items include increases, including the budgets for each elected official and their respective offices. These increases are due in part to wage hikes approved by the commissioners on May 3. 
As previously reported on May 12 in “Raises approved by Weston County Commissioners,”  the wage increases for employees and elected officials will cost the county an additional $420,000-plus annually. 
The largest general fund line items include $591,500 for the Weston County Sheriff’s Office, $477,149 for the law enforcement center, $1,191,630.88 for Weston County Road and Bridge, $500,000 for county road fund projects and $350,000 for dispatch. Dispatch is a newly added line item, a result of the May 3 vote to start a county dispatch center, separate from the one operated by the city of Newcastle.
Reserve accounts include $2,849,554.90 in cash reserve, $928,979.11 in depreciation reserve, $3,713,492.89 in county road maintenance and construction reserves, $116,413.48 in fuel reserve and $400,000 in capital improvement reserves. 
“Including these five reserve (savings) accounts in this publication makes the budget appear larger than in prior years,” the budget document notes. 
Of these five accounts, the cash reserve decreased by $522,421.57, the county road reserve increased by $337,790.11 and the depreciation reserve increased by $300,000. 
Also included in the general fund requirements is $5,375,925.10 for other county accounts. These include health insurance for employees, a courthouse preservation fund, printing and publishing fees, public health grants, American Rescue Plan Act monies, Federal Mineral Royalty grant monies and various other items. This year’s total of over $5 million for these line items is a $1.2 million increase over the previous year’s. 
Employee health insurance costs are the largest line item represented in the other county accounts breakout, with a total annual cost of $740,000. Other budgeted items include $400,000 for computer and software licensing and programming, $424,000 for retirement, $450,000 for buildings and grounds major repairs, $448,426.13 for federal mineral royalty grants and $404,00.15 for the American Rescue Plan Act.
Other county accounts included in this part of the budget are insurance, up $125,000 to $150,000; financial administration, up $178,350 to $284,100; courthouse preservation increased $197,000, to $200,000; and grant matches, up $170,000 to $250,000. 
New line items to this portion of the budget include the $404,000.15 in American Rescue Fund monies and $20,779.13 in sheriff coronavirus funds. 
Also included in the county budget is $293,994 in 1% sales tax expenses also known as 1% sales tax projects allocated to various service providers across the county. This area of the budget increased a mere $874 from last year’s budget. 
The commissioners removed both the Osage Ambulance Service and the Northern Wyoming Mental Health as line items. These items were previously budgeted at $5,000 and $8,500, respectively. 
Questions posed to both Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock and Marty Ertman chairman of the Board of Weston County Commissioners on the reason for the removal of these line items were not returned by press time. Hadlock also did not return questions regarding the reasoning for the listing of grants as requirements and where the money would be spent. 
The largest line items for the service providers include $12,750 for the Weston County Children’s Center, $15,000 for the Newcastle Ambulance Service, $16,400 for the public defender, $14,025 for Newcastle senior meals, $20,000 for the Upton Ambulance Service, $30,000 for capital projects, $40,434.20 for Mallo, $22,500 for courthouse repairs, and $24,000 for GIS land records.