Carbon County residents can expect to pay the same amount on their county taxes in 2014.

During the county commissioners' meeting on Thursday, the board voted to approve the 2014 spending plan with no changes from its preliminary adoption last month.That means that a homeowner with a $100,000 home that is assessed at $50,000 will pay $512.50 in county real estate taxes next year.The budget, which is broken down into operating funds, $42,138,271; capital projects, $745,000; and special funds, $2,292,325; totals $45,175,596.Big ticket items in the upcoming budget include a 3 percent salary increase for all non-union employees; and the operations at the prison, which cost approximately $4.2 annually and courts, which run on approximately $10 million annually.The county had been tightening up on its spending over the last year, eliminating positions in various departments, and cutting costs wherever it was possible.In other matters, the county acted on the following items:• Reappoint Robert L. Miller of Lehighton as the farmer director; Merle B. Hunsicker of Lehighton as the public director and Wayne E. Nothstein as the commissioner representative, all for the Conservation District. Miller and Hunsicker's terms are for four years; while Nothstein's is a one-year term.• Reappoint Darryl Brewster of Lehighton to a five-year term in Parks and Recreation.• Approve the appointment of Carbon County, at large, and Carbon County Community Transit voting representatives and alternates to the Northeast Pennsylvania Metropolitan Planning Organization Technical Planning Committee for the term ending June 30, 2016. Representatives are David Bodnar of the county Planning and Development office, county representative; Joseph Sebelin of the Pocono County Workforce Investment Board, At-Large representative; and Owen O'Neil, director of planning for LANTA, CCCT representative.Alternates include Harold Pudliner, Weatherly borough manager, county representative alternate; Eloise Ahner, county administrator, At-Large alternate; and Melissa Gemeli, assistant executive director of finance and administration for LANTA, CCCT alternate.• Approve the retirement of Fay L. Hunsicker of Lehighton as the cleaning person in Buildings and Grounds, effective Jan. 7, 2014.• Approve the appointment of James E. Bonner of Northampton as a sergeant in the county sheriff's department, retroactive to Dec. 9.