Good morning and happy Friday!
This week was all about the budget. On Tuesday, our board approved the 2021 year-end and 2022 preliminary budgets. Overall, 2021 has proven to be a more stable budget year than we originally anticipated and the 2022 budget is looking solid. The board continues to take a balanced approach by investing in staff, equipment, facilities and, of course, the county road system. A few of these 2022 line items include improved vision plans, additional payments to our pension and retiree health care funds, replacement of heavy trucks and other equipment, and upkeep of our various yards throughout the county. For detailed lists of these expenditures, please see Appendices L-N of the 2022 budget.
Improving and maintaining county roads and bridges remains the biggest part of our budget. We are planning another huge construction season that will really help our road system. The 2022 project list and map are included in the preliminary budget and the 2022 project map will be posted to our website before the end of the year. As always, we will continue to monitor a number of factors that could impact the budget, including supply chain issues, the pandemic and the national labor shortage.
A huge thank you to Dan and everyone involved in creating the budget each year – we couldn’t function without you!
Looks like we have some weird “winter” weather coming our way this weekend. Despite the forecast, I hope you have a pleasant weekend.
Take care and stay safe,
Sheryl
