Wilson: County faces major budget challenges

Otsego County will face tighter budgets in coming years, County Administrator Steve Wilson told the county Board of Representatives Wednesday, Nov. 4.“Fundamental changes are forcing the county off a fiscal cliff,” read the title of Wilson’s second presentation slide.Wilson said causes included COVID-19 financial disruptions which had a major impact on prior budgets and staffing, significant increases in healthcare costs, reductions in federal aid contributions and other items. It has resulted in a structural imbalance for the county budget, he said.“I call it a fiscal cliff because we kept it together — revenues more or less equaling expenses — until 2024,” he said. That year, expenses started to exceed revenues. “The gap keeps getting bigger and bigger.”Wilson said that for the current fiscal year, the board addressed a $15.7 million budget gap through cutting expenses by $11 million, using $6.1 million of its fund balance and increasing the tax levy by about $700,000.

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