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Summit County Council Finishes Year By Approving 2020 Budget

Summit County Council members have approved their 2020 budget—casting their last vote of the year in their last meeting of the year.

The total operating budget was set at $61.4 million.

The budget was a ten percent increase over the previous year.    County Council Chairman Roger Armstrong said much of it came from federal funding.        

“About $3 million of that is coming from federal grants that the Health Department wrote.  And they relate to some of the mental health services  and Medicaid dollars coming in.   So three million of that is just a function of when you get grant dollars in, you’ve got to account for those in the budget, you’ve got to budget for those.   So that was about 50 percent of that.”

The county’s chief financial officer, Matt Leavitt, said the budget included a net increase of five full-time positions.   Those included a jail-work-crew supervisor, an equipment operator, a storm-water inspector, a GIS technician and a behavioral-health budget manager.

The budget hearing on Dec. 11th did not draw any comment from the public.

But in the Public Comment that began the Council meeting, a representative from the Park City Area Homebuilders Association spoke.   He commended the county’s building staff, but said they’re inundated with work.     He asked the Council to either cut back on building fees, or fund the hiring of more inspectors.

Armstrong noted Development Director Pat Putt and his staff have been meeting with builders.       

“It sounds like staff is busy.   It sounds like the Home Builders are concerned.   I mean, I think that the concerns that we hear most often from the homebuilders—when we hear from them, and it’s not that often—but it relates to whether we have enough services as a county to provide what they need to keep their process moving forward—inspectors, things like that.  So if you’re building a project, and it takes two weeks to get an inspector in, and then another two weeks to come in, that creates a problem for the builder.    So I think that’s fair.  I think we should take a look at it.”

Summit County Council Chair Roger Armstrong.

Known for getting all the facts right, as well as his distinctive sign-off, Rick covered Summit County meetings and issues for 35 years on KPCW. He now heads the Friday Film Review team.
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