The Board of Lewis County Commissioners (BOCC) will host an informational budget meeting this week to discuss the county’s preliminary 2025 budget before it is approved early next month.

The public meeting will occur at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 13 in the commissioner's hearing room at the Lewis County Courthouse. A public hearing to potentially adopt the budget will be held on Dec. 2.

Lewis County’s preliminary budget includes anticipated revenues of $179.6 million and expenditures of $196.5 million in 2025, a decrease of 7.8% in expenditures from the 2024 adjusted budget.

“The difference in revenues and expenditures is primarily due to projects funded through the American Rescue Plan Act funds (ARPA), where revenue was received in prior years,” County Manager Ryan Barrett and Budget Director Becky Butler wrote in a memo to the Board of Lewis County Commissioners on Sept. 30.

In the memo, Butler and Barrett wrote that a “structural budget deficit” would remain a concern “if revenue continues to decrease.”

A structural deficit, the memo states, occurs when expenditures consistently exceed revenue, which leads to “an unsustainable financial situation.”

According to the memo, budget cuts are not unique to Lewis County, as other municipalities look to reduce staffing or adopt a 32-hour work week to address budget shortfalls. But more cuts may be needed in the future.

“With the General Fund's projected use of fund balance for 2024 and 2025 coupled with the use of fund balance in 2023, exploring various options to ensure financial stability in the coming years is critical,” the memo states. “This will include a thorough review of all county expenditures identifying areas where further reductions can be made without compromising mandated services or negatively impacting revenue.”

According to the memo, department heads and elected officials submitted budget reduction proposals that would freeze an estimated 14 positions in addition to the eight positions eliminated already.

During an October budget hearing, several department heads said they would struggle to provide adequate services if kept to the budget reductions mandated by commissioners.

If held to the suggested budget numbers, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office faces about a $1 million shortfall, which could result in cutting eight full-time equivalent (FTE) positions.

According to Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Special Services Chief Kevin Engelbertson, that could include two operations staff, a corrections lieutenant and five corrections deputies.

“That’s the only other thing that we feel we could cut and still maintain what we currently have right now,” Engelbertson said on Oct. 10. “I don’t know how else to say that other than we’re cutting FTE positions if we’re truly a million dollars short. That’s our option.”

Cutting the positions, Engelbertson said, would mean “not responding to certain calls.”

“You’re talking about taking away employees, and that’s the only way we can handle the million-dollar cut,” Sheriff Rob Snaza said on Oct. 10. “At the end of the day, law enforcement services are necessary to be provided in Lewis County. And I think that’s one thing that we cannot cut back on. Because once we start to go down that hill, I don’t know how we come back up.”

Shad Hail, Lewis County Juvenile Court administrator, said the Juvenile Justice Center faces similar constraints. If the proposed 2025 budget is adopted, Hail said the department would struggle to implement it.