Schuylkill County property owners won't have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay their 2015 real estate tax.

Commissioners on Wednesday adopted a new budget that keeps the rate the same, at 13.98 mills.That means the owner of a property assessed for taxes at $35,000 will again pay $489 next year.Of that, 13.83 mills will fuel the general fund, and the remaining 0.15 mill will help pay off debt.But the quest to avoid a tax increase was harrowing. Officials went into austerity mode, freezing hirings and wages, furloughing non-core employees, and cutting costs wherever they could.Core operations include row offices and prison, social services, 911 and Rest Haven employees. Anything outside of that would be considered non-core, according to county administrator Mark Scarbinsky.One example would be the recycling program, which has three employees.Each mill generates about $2.5 million and only brings in 61 percent of the revenue the county needs to pay its bills. The remaining 39 percent comes from government grants and county fees.But even pared to bare bone, there was still a $4.16 million gap between general fund revenues and expenses.The county drew money from its fund balance to close that gap, and plans to replace the funds with the proceeds from the sale of the county nursing home, Rest Haven.The sale is expected to happen early next year.The county on Wednesday temporarily amended its Governmental Accounting Standards Board policy it approved on Nov. 13, 2013, in order to borrow the amount.Under the policy, the county agreed to keep enough money to cover one month of operating costs, about $4.6 million, in the unassigned fund balance.Withdrawing the $4.16 million to make ends meet reduced the fund balance to below the recommended level.The spending plan anticipates $130,922,471 in revenue:General fund, $51,199,429; debt service, $412,765; Rest Haven, $12,953,785; 911 services, $5,421,269; capital projects, $1,001,000; capital reserve, $182,500; internal service, $759,835; special revenue funds, $47,146,089; other special revenue funds, $11,845,799.It anticipates $140,701,840 in expenditures:General fund, $55,356,282; debt service, $469,305; Rest Haven, $12,953,785; 911 services, $5,421,269; capital projects, $3,700,000; capital reserve, $1,829,249; internal service, $759,835; special revenue funds, $48,720,987; other special revenue funds, $11,491,128.The $9,779,369 total revenue/expenditure gap will be filled by carry-over fund balances.