NEW PHILADELPHIA (Tusco TV) - Tuscarawas County commissioners are learning about the operating needs of dozens of county-run offices as they work to build next year’s budget.

Joe Sciarretti says they’ll be meeting with department leaders over the next four to six weeks to review their 2020 cost projections. He says it’s part of the process the commissioners go through each year to keep their expenses and revenue in balance.

"So this process has to take place, this presentation, this reporting out... at the end, what’s precipitated from this is a structurally sound budget, and there’s been a great tradition here of that," he says. 

Sciarretti says the overall budget for the 50 or so departments is typically around $25-million, funded primarily through sales tax collections.

"That doesn’t factor into all of the property tax that goes into schools, of course. That does not factor in what the state is able to keep. Once you factor those in you’re $100-million but in terms of what the commissioners are responsible, in terms of own structurally sound budget, it’s around $25-million," he says.

Commissioners had their first budget meetings last week with the public defender’s office, Regional Planning, the clerk of courts, the county engineer and several others.

TUSCO TV