Councilman explains his budget vote

Editor,

In a 4-2 vote, the county council passed $85.6 million in total spending for the fiscal year 2023-24, the budget that started this July 1. I voted “No” for a variety of reasons I want to explain.

Total revenue is up from $75.5 million to $84.4 million, or 12.1 percent year over year. That’s a lot.

There is lots of savings, too. The total unassigned general fund cash balance was $32.7 million, so that’s a 62 percent cash position relative to the general fund budget. The standard is 15-25 percent. Because cash on hand is so high and interest rates have gone up, the county has

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