The Monroe County commissioners passed the county budget Wednesday morning with a 0.75-mill tax increase.

The total county millage rate for 2024 is 3.9773, up from 3.2273 in 2023. The tax rate includes 3.5089 mills for general purposes, 0.4684 mills for the debt service obligation and .185914 mills for the library millage. The library millage increased by 10%.

Overall, the county budget is calculated at $162.6 million. The proposed county liquid fuels budget for 2024 is $398,167. The debt service obligation is .4684 mills, and the library millage rate is 0.185914 mills.

Jennifer Barclay, the finance director for the county, read through a list of decreases and increases in the budget. Among them was capital improvement projects.

“The budget for Capital Projects and Capital Improvement money decreased by $1.37 million, which represents payments that we’ve made for the Courthouse Expansion projects,” she said.

One of the increases was for Act 13 Open Space and Gas Wells fees, which increased by $50,000 for the Keystone Historic Preservation Grant.

In other business, the commissioners approved a modification to the 2022 Community Development Block Grant Program for East Stroudsburg that moves $141,859 from the Housing Rehabilitation fund to the Street/Road Improvements fund.

Martha Robbins, executive director of the Redevelopment Authority for the county, said, “The justification of the modification for the 2022 CDBG Program Budget involves the deletion of East Stroudsburg borough’s single-family housing rehab activity in the amount of $141,859 and relocate it to a new activity under Street/Road Improvements for Harris and Pearl streets.”

Sharon Laverdure, chairwoman of the commissioners, asked if the public had any questions, and no one came forth. So Commissioner John Moyer asked Robbins to clarify if this type of action has been done in the past, and she said yes, funds were moved from one to another in September.

Moyer also asked her if East Stroudsburg and Stroudsburg have used block grant money for road improvements before, and she said they do.

The commissioners also approved a request from the Conservation District to use $36,021 in Demolition Funds to remove a dilapidated building on Running Valley Road.