Carbon County residents can expect to pay the same amount on their county taxes in 2015.

During the county commissioners' meeting on Thursday, the board voted to approve the 2015 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, $43,100,056; capital projects, $177,324; and special funds, $2,365,322 totals $45,642,702.The commissioners spoke out about a number of areas that make up the spending plans.Commissioner William O'Gurek said the board did not want to increase taxes for the county so it called for the commissioners making a lot of difficult decisions to cut spending."Our general fund is $22,186,603, compared to $22,124,247 (in 2014), which means we plan to spend only $62,356 more in 2015," he said, adding that the anticipated growth in the tax base next year is only 1/10 of a percent or $10,453."We have gone through a period of several years now due to a lagging economy in which growth, or construction, has come to a standstill," O'Gurek said. "Assessment appeals continue to result in slowing down the tax base. There were 23 appeals filed in court in 2013 and nine alone this month, two of which, if successful, could mean a decrease inasmuch as $140,000 in county tax dollars, and believe it or not, as much as $840,000 in revenue loss to the three taxing bodies (county, school districts and municipalities)."In addition, the county will transfer $2.2 million from the general fund to cover shortfalls in the wireless and landline funding for the 911 Communications Center. Of that total, $250,000 will be to help cover the operating costs of the Communications Center because current wireless and landline fees that the county receives don't cover all the costs associated with the center's operations.The lower funding sources have also hit the courts, with $30,000 fewer dollars coming in for court operations; and a not-so-great housing market has cut into the revenue coming into the county.Commissioner Wayne Nothstein said that tax laws are outdated and something needs to be done because in the case of the 911 Communications Center, the county can't keep up with the demands. The center needs new equipment that is necessary to providing the best service in emergency situations, and the equipment costs are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range.The county prison also will see a $150,000 reduction in its budget for next year, even though, as Nothstein said, the inmate population continues to rise.The commissioners did point out two positive line items that were included in the budget an anticipated 3 percent raise for all non-union employees, beginning in January; and an 8 percent decrease in employee health care costs because of the county's involvement in an insurance cooperative."We still wanted to help our employees," O'Gurek said.But, Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard added, that "wish lists" in county departments were cut this year.The county will not be purchasing new computers unless they break, is replacing only one of its 35 vehicle fleet, implementing a hiring freeze, and bringing maintenance operations in-house instead of contracting outside help.Gerhard added that the commissioners asked all employees to also tighten belts to help cut down on spending. This includes turning off lights when you leave a room and printing documents on both sides of a piece of paper.The Carbon County Animal Shelter, Gerhard pointed out, has also helped save $23,000 in taxpayer dollars through fundraising and donations.Nothstein said the county's spending plan may change midyear because of the state and federal fiscal years. The county budgets for a determined amount of funding from the state and federal governments, but if the state slashes the funding when it signs its budget in July, the county must then either foot the bill or make changes."We believe this budget represents our best effort and the only effort we could have made to be fiscally responsible to the taxpayers," O'Gurek said. "There are difficult decisions in it that we as commissioners will live with and that we ask department heads and row officeholders to live within as well."The 2015 budget will now be available for review in the commissioners' office until 4:30 p.m., Dec. 10. The formal adoption of the budget will take place during the commissioners' Dec. 11 meeting.