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The new budget, unanimously passed by the Board of Legislators and signed by County Executive George Latimer on Monday, Dec. 12, totals $2.365 billion and includes Latimer's fourth property tax cut in a row, according to county officials.
In addition to tax cuts, the budget also funds the county's Department of Corrections, Public Safety, Probation and Emergency Services at the "highest level" in the county's history, county officials said. This includes:
- $156.6 million for the Department of Corrections;
- $59.1 million for Public Safety;
- $50.2 million for Probation;
- $13 million for Emergency Services.
"I am signing this budget today and thinking of all the families who are preparing for the holidays – this budget is for them. We have cut taxes again and have done so while also expanding the programs and services they have come to depend on," Latimer said of the 2023 budget.
The new budget also includes:
- $6 million towards economic development, with a focus on life sciences, tourism, and healthcare;
- $218.7 million for the county's health department, including $1 million for maternal mortality;
- $17.2 million for the Department of Community Mental Health, including the county's mobile crisis response team and the 988 suicide crisis hotline;
- $1.3 million for the Human Rights Commission to fund another investigator;
- $4.7 million for Youth Bureau funding.
County officials also said that the county will close out 2022 with a projected $65.9 million operating surplus.
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