Oconto County Board approves 2023 budget

The Oconto County Board on Oct. 27 passed a $47.6 million county budget for 2023 representing a $2.8 million decrease in expenditures from this year.

The county plans to collect $3.5 million less than 2022, largely because millions in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds from the federal government won’t be repeated. The budget comes with a property tax levy of $21.76 million, a 2.4% increase, with a mill rate of $4.17 per $1,000 of equalized value, down 11.3%.

County Administrator Erik Pritzl, hired at the beginning of 2022, said the challenge in preparing his first budget proposal was a limited amount of “new” funding to provide essential public services. State-imposed levy limits left the county with $265,516 to work with.

“This amount helps in addressing increases in personnel costs to maintain a workforce, increased costs in materials and supplies to effectively deliver these services and increased costs in equipment replacement,” Pritzl said in introducing the budget plan. “Department heads identified revenues to cover the increased costs specific to their departments whenever possible and were very responsible with their budget requests.”

Pritzl and Finance Director Lisa Sherman were able to increase the contingency budget from $190,364 to $217,307, and the county will apply $400,000 less from its General Fund, the county’s savings account, to balance the budget. The budget does transfer $750,000 — $484,321 more — from its Health and Human Services Fund, for that purpose.

Remaining ARPA funds were applied to highway operations ($345,000) and the Commission on Aging ($25,000).

The budget projects a decrease of $400,000 in revenues from sales of tax-foreclosed properties because of changes in state statutes, but an increase of $310,000 in investment interest. Among other revenue impacts, the county expects to make an additional $120,300 in timber sales over 2022 and $54,540 more in park fees and permits.

On the expenditure side of the ledger, the county plans to spend $880,000 more in wages for employees to cover approved increases for pay-grade steps and merit. The planned sudden withdrawal of WEA Trust from the insurance market at the end of 2022 had its expected impact, in that the county’s new provider will cost an additional $233,000.

Because 2023 is a year with no partisan November election, the county clerk expects to spend $100,000 less on election costs, and human resources expects a $100,000 decrease in retirement payouts in 2023.

The capital improvement projects budget includes $1.1 million in equipment purchases, $465,000 for technology hardware and software, $334,077 to replace aging vehicles in the forestry and parks departments, $300,000 to replace sheriff’s department vehicles and $100,000 for vehicle fleet leases.

The property tax levy includes $19.75 million for general expenses, $583,864 to support county libraries, $119,906 for local bridge aid and a $1.3 million county debt levy.

The board approved a handful of changes in the organizational structure, such as the sheriff eliminating one jail officer position and adding a dispatcher at the same pay grade, and an Administrative III position shifting about a quarter of the person’s hours from the county administrator office to the emergency management department.