The Monroe County Board of Commissioners approved a budget that keeps taxes level for 2022.

Health care rates remain the same.

Jennifer Barclay, the fiscal director, reported the county will remain at 3.2273 mills with 2.7443 mills being utilized for general purposes and 0.4830 mills is designated for debt service obligation.

All nonunion employees will receive a 3% COLA on Jan. 1, and six new full-time positions are approved for voter registration, public defender, courts, and district attorney office.

“There is a significant increase in the budget due to the Courthouse Expansion Project and the salary study for county employees,” said Vice Chairman John Moyer.

Commissioner John Christy explained an other increase raising the bottom line was the computer capital purchase includes new software for the district attorney and the public defender offices.

Courthouse project

The county broke ground for the courthouse expansion project in June.

The project includes more courtrooms and judge’s chambers, as well as making space for all the departments that work out of the courthouse.

Commissioners’ Chairman Sharon Laverdure said it will create a much safer working environment.

The original courthouse was built in 1890. Then 44 years later in 1934 an identically sized addition was built. Both structures were added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 18, 1979, the same year an expansion was added to the two standing structures. The historic courthouse, with its 1893 courtroom and 1930s courtroom, will also have upgrades. Concrete sidewalks and retaining walls on the east side will be removed and replaced with lawn, restoring the courthouse’s setting on Monroe Street to its original condition.

The project is slated to be finished in 30 months.

There are a couple of things that came up, Christy said in a meeting earlier this month.

“When we started the water line was not in the place it said it would be, so that is why we had a water line relocation. We also had to add fire dampeners on the first floor that were not in the plan,” he said.

Other changes, such as shoring for the foundation had to be increased and the foundation had to be enlarged have slowed the project.

Fortunately, Christie said, when PNC Bank was demolished, “an old split system air conditioner was salvaged so we were able to save money on that.”