Lewis County Budget Administrator Becky Butler said Wednesday evening that the county’s preliminary budget will freeze approximately 15 positions in the general fund and will not fill or cut additional positions not funded by the general fund.

“Reductions as proposed will impact services to the public in all offices and departments,” Butler said during a meeting at the Lewis County Courthouse.

Faced with rising costs and stagnant revenue, the county has frozen or cut roughly 30 positions since 2023.

“I think that it’s important to note that the volume of reductions in staffing across the board in all county departments are definitely going to make an impact in the level of service that the citizens of Lewis County receive,” Lewis County Commissioner Scott Brummer said. “There’s just no other way to say that. It will have a definite impact on various levels of service that we provide.”

According to Lewis County Commissioner Lindsey Pollock, the reductions mean the county will have fewer employees than in 2008.

“We never fully recovered from the recession. We were still down a significant amount of employees from the cuts that were made from 2009 to 2012,” Butler said. “So we’re again going backward, with increased service levels.”

“And a fairly large increase in population as well,” Lewis County Commissioner Scott Brummer added.

Since late September, the county has reduced $2.3 million in general fund expenditures and made other adjustments to the 2025 budget. The current proposal would add three full-time equivalent (FTE) corrections positions, one juvenile detention FTE position, and .5 human resources FTE. Decisions on FTEs for the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office and the jail medical staff will be determined Monday, according to an informational packet provided Wednesday.

Following the passage of the 911 tax by county voters earlier this month, the county will also gain an additional $687,055 that would have otherwise been spent on usage fees by the sheriff’s office.

Still, Lewis County faces a roughly $1.1 million budget deficit in the 2025 budget ahead of formal adoption next month, which would currently be closed through the county’s fund balance, Butler said Wednesday evening.

“We still have additional decisions to make,” Butler said.

During the informational meeting at the Lewis County Courthouse, Brummer said the county’s budget “is not there yet.”

“From my perspective, we’re looking to get that million-dollar shortfall shored up so we’re living within our means. That’s our goal, that’s what we’re working towards,” Brummer said. “We have an additional couple of weeks to figure some more of those details out to get there.”

Lewis County’s 2025 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.

According to Butler, the “significant difference” between the budget’s expenditures and revenues is the result of the county using revenue from prior years for capital projects.

Butler said budget increase requests that did not increase revenue were not considered during the 2025 budgeting process.

In July, the Board of Lewis County Commissioners mandated department heads submit 2025 budget proposals equal to 2023 actual expenditures.

“We’re talking about going back to (2023) levels as inflation has essentially skyrocketed since 2023,” Brummer said. “And that inflation hits every county service. We pay more for all of those county goods and services that we utilize, just like we do in our individual budgets.”

By state law, the commissioners must adopt a balanced budget where expenditures cannot exceed the anticipated yearly revenue.

According to a Sept. 30 budget memo, budget cuts are not unique to Lewis County, as other municipalities reduce staffing or adopt a 32-hour work week to address budget shortfalls.

A public hearing to adopt the budget will be held on Dec. 2. The meeting will also include a hearing on property tax levies for 2025.

“I don’t like it. I would prefer that we would not have to make those kinds of cuts, especially when it comes to serving the public that elected us to make these decisions,” Brummer said. “But it’s necessary to live within our means and make sure Lewis County is in a strong position.”