ABERDEEN, S.D. (By Elisa Sand esand@aberdeennews.com) – Brown County commissioners started their 2021 budget discussion with a $467,000 gap between projected revenues and proposed expenses.
But after discussion in work sessions last week, they closed that gap and approved a balanced provisional budget Tuesday at the board’s regular meeting.
That budget is $30.75 million, which includes a general fund budget of $25.6 million, debt service of $904,239 and a landfill budget of $4.2 million.
To close the gap between, there were reductions to several departments and agencies, but nothing as drastic as what was needed to balance the 2020 budget.
Budget discussion a year ago started with a $4 million deficit, and the highway department took the bulk of the hit with a $3.5 million cut. That took the road and bridge budget from $9.32 million to about $6 million. But much of that budget was restored for 2021 with a $2.8 million increase.