From left, Marquette County Commissioner Joe Derocha, Marquette County Board Chairman Gerald Corkin and Commissioners Karen Alholm, Bill Nordeen, Stephen Adamini and Johnny DePetro, discuss the county’s budget for fiscal year 2019 at Tuesday night’s meeting of the board. (Journal photo by Cecilia Brown)

MARQUETTE — The Marquette County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the county’s fiscal year 2019 budget at Tuesday’s meeting following a public hearing about the matter.

At around $25.8 million, the county’s general fund budget for 2019 is about $250,000 less than 2018’s budget. Despite the smaller budget, the county will not reduce current services or staff, commissioners said.

“This budget is about a quarter of a million less than last year, and we were able to keep everyone working and have a balanced budget,” board Chairman Gerald Corkin said. “And we have renewed contracts, in most cases settled for two years, as fairly as we could.”

Furthermore, the county’s savings fund was not used to balance the budget, Corkin said.

“Our budgets are made up of reoccurring monies that are coming in, and the only time we ever would maybe take some out of savings would be for an emergency situation or a special project,” he said. “We live on reoccurring revenues.”

This will be the second year in a row the county’s budget has shrunk, commissioners said.

The smaller budget and revenue losses are due to a number of issues, budget documents state, referencing flat ad valorem tax revenues, a continuing anticipated decline in specific ore tax revenues as well as “other potential tax reductions with We Energies, and the continuation of dark store and other tax challenges.”

In the case of specific ore tax revenues, which come from mining operations, a reduction of $600,000 in revenue is expected from 2018 to 2019, with the estimated revenues for fiscal year 2019 being about $2 million less than 2013, budget documents state.

“We’ve lost substantial money there in the last five years,” Corkin said.

He credited previous county decisions for this year’s balanced budget, referencing the county’s move to join the Western Michigan Health Insurance Pool in 2016, which he said has helped stabilize the county’s costs for providing insurance to staff.

“If it wasn’t for what we were able to do with the health care to curb the 20 to 30 percent increases, we’d probably be making cuts this year,” Corkin said, noting that in the county’s second year with the pool, the average annual increase has been 3 percent, which is a “big difference from the 25 percent increases we were getting there for five or six years.”

He commended county staff members for their fiscal responsibility and hard work for balancing the budget, noting that they did a “good job of living within in their means,” as $250,000 is a significant reduction to face while maintaining services and staffing levels.

Corkin also believes the board’s own approach to county finances helped make for a balanced budget this year.

“I’m a stickler on the budget, that’s my strong suit since I’ve been here,” Corkin said. “I learned that from my mother when I grew up, that you live within your means and pay your bills, it’s one thing that’s stuck in my head in my whole life — that’s who I am and we’re lucky that we have a board that believes the same thing, so we’re very fortunate.”

Overall, Corkin said he was pleased with the outcome of the budgeting process.

“It’s an excellent budget for the revenues that we have to work with,” Corkin said.

The board also approved a $460,340 capital improvements budget and other county fund budgets in the amount of more than $33.76 million for fiscal year 2019 at the meeting.