Jan. 10—SOMERSET, Pa. — Somerset County’s new commissioners are taking a look at the 2024 budget approved by their predecessors in December in an effort to cut costs.

For incoming boards, which are expected to live within their spending plans for the coming year, it’s a common — and permissible — move enabling them to adjust spending by up to 10% — and even raise taxes, if needed, the statewide County Code shows.

‘Vague’ budget

Somerset County President Commissioner Brian Fochtman said the board is still in the earliest stages of examining the current budget — and it’s too soon to determine whether any changes will be made, he said in an interview Tuesday.

Fochtman said the board is looking for ways to cut expenses, but said it was too soon to cite specifics.

“Right now, the budget I’m looking at is very vague,” he said, noting that the plan’s line items don’t offer much detail.

“We want to sit down with the department heads and row officers and see if there’s anywhere we can cut costs.”

“If there’s fat to trim,” the board will do it, “but we don’t know yet,” he added.

At this stage, Fochtman said he does not envision the board taking steps that would require taxes to be adjusted.

As is, the current plan keeps taxes unchanged from 2023. Fellow Somerset County Commissioner Pamela Tokar-Ickes and now-former commissioners Colleen Dawson and Gerald Walker unveiled their budget in November and gave the $60.7 million plan final approval last month.

The budget was 8% larger than 2022, with $1.6 million of that amount tied to increased employee salary and benefit costs, Finance Director Rebecca Canavan said at the time.

The new board has a limited window to amend Somerset County’s budget between now and Feb. 15.

There’s a process that must be followed, said Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association Law Counsel Melissa Melewsky, an attorney who specializes in Pennsylvania’s Open Meetings and public records laws.

That includes providing public notice in a newspaper of general circulation and for the new proposal to be placed on public display for at least 10 days. Each of those steps require votes during public meetings, as well as a vote for final adoption — if it reaches that point — by Feb. 15, she said.

Melewsky said that even deliberation by commissioners over the budget must be conducted during properly advertised meetings, in compliance with the Sunshine Act.

Regardless of whether any changes are or aren’t made to the budget, the county’s new commissioners should have already raised the topic during a public meeting, she said.

“If the county commissioners are considering making a decision that could impact the whole county, it should be discussed at a public meeting,” Melewsky said.

A number of incoming commissioners boards across Pennsylvania, including those in Armstrong and Carbon counties, voted over the past week to reopen budgets.

Somerset’s commissioners did not discuss the idea during their first meeting on Jan. 2. Fochtman said they opted against scheduling a special meeting — or a vote to reopen the budget — on the legal advice of their new solicitors, William Carroll and Carolyn Shaw.

Melewsky said county government must be transparent.

“A decision on whether or not to amend a budget shouldn’t come out of the blue, it should be discussed at a public meeting to allow people to comment about it,” she said.

“Then,” she said, “the board could put the issue to a vote to decide whether to start proceeding with the amendment process.”

Fochtman and fellow Commissioner Irv Kimmel Jr. made improving transparency within the Commissioners Office a key part of their campaign for commissioner. And prior to taking office, Fochtman told The Tribune-Democrat that the new board ought to look into the budget, since they’ll be in charge of monitoring spending in 2024.

“Transparency is important,” he said Tuesday, adding that the new board, now in just its second week in office, is trying to do what is right.

He said the board understands they would have to provide notice of an amended budget if the board takes it that far.

Fochtman said he’ll continue discussing the broader budget process with the county’s solicitors, and, if it turns out a vote is needed to reopen the budget, “we’ll certainly do that.”