At the end of 2024, Carbon County anticipated needing approximately $8 million to cover the costs for county operations until tax revenue began coming in during the second quarter of 2025.

However, on Thursday, the commissioners were happy to report that departments were able to buckle down on spending and used half of the anticipated amount.

The announcement came after the board ratified a payment in the amount of $4,099,984.96 to M&T Bank for the 2025 Tax and Revenue Anticipation Note.

“The county had anticipated we would need roughly $8 million to get where we are today,” Commissioners’ Chairman Mike Sofranko said. “If you look at the number, you’ll see we only used $4 million so that’s a credit to every one of our department heads, every one of our elected officials and the board sitting before you here, along with our county administrator.”

Sofranko added that the county was able to accomplish this by moving funds around, cutting spending and making financially responsible decisions.

“We were able to hold the line in a lot of key areas,” Sofranko said. “I think this definitely shows the taxpayers that we are acting as responsibly as we can with the parameters in which we set.”

The board noted that some factors contributed to the need for the loan, including the state not reimbursing the county over $4 million for Children and Youth Services in a timely manner last year; as well as prior boards running the fund balance down.

The interest that the county paid for the loan was $99,950, which Commissioner Wayne Nothstein said was avoidable.

“It certainly could have been avoided by maintaining a fund balance,” he said, noting there is discussion in the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania on recommendations for how much of a fund balance counties should maintain.

He said that he was unhappy that he had been outvoted in previous boards where it was decided to use the fund balance instead of raising taxes.

“Had we maintained that fund balance, we would not have had that additional expense, plus all the time and effort that gets put into these things. I wish we would have had maintained a fund balance so we wouldn’t have had an unnecessary expense.”

In December, the county commissioners — in a 2-1 vote with Commissioner Rocky Ahner against it — approved its $83.7 million 2025 budget with a 3-mill increase and the need to obtain an $8 million tax and revenue anticipation note.

The loan was finalized in February and is now fully repaid.