Fiscal Responsibility & COVID

On 12/31/2015, just before the start of my 1st term, County gov had a General Fund Cash Balance (kind of like a family's bank account) of $2.2m.

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This was due in part to a state budget impasse & other reasons & although over $2million sounds like a lot, it is not very much in reserve on a budget over $300m.

On 12/31/2019, at end of my 1st term, County gov had a General Fund Cash Balance of $42.5m.

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We also paid off around $50m in debt. We continue to aggressively pay down debt.

Our bond rating went up twice.

Our retirement system, as noted in our recent financial review, is fully funded.

AND we NEVER raised taxes.

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In fact, we have the 3rd lowest tax rate of any of the 67 counties in PA & lowest of any large county.

How did we do it? A great County team & good old fashioned frugal budgeting.

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The hard truth is that you can't have everything. A lot of times you have to say no. This is true in a family, a business, or government. But too many do not understand that these days. You have to make choices.

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A lot of gov entities (including ours) are going to face hard choices because of the economic destruction of COVID & the state lockdown. The question to ask is what were they doing during the good times to save for this rainy day?

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