Livingston County’s budget for the coming year has been adopted, while the county has also received recognition for last year’s budget document.

The Board of Commissioners met earlier this month and held a public hearing regarding adoption of the 2019 budget, though no community members spoke either for or against the item. County Administrator Ken Hinton then presented some the budget highlights, which includes the ability to maintain current service levels and leverage additional funds to increase public transportation services. Among those highlights was also the announcement that Livingston County has received the Government Finance Officers Association’s (GFOA) Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for their 2018 Operating Budget Document. The award reflects the county’s commitment to meet the highest principles of government budgeting by satisfying nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. The county’s Operating Budget Document received outstanding ratings for strategic goals and strategies, unit goals and objectives, performance measures, and long-range financial plans.

Several commissioners made a point to recognize the work that went into the budgeting process, which began in late June. The process begins with a base projection, before departments begin submitting their requests to the respective committee. The requests are then analyzed before Administration presents a recommendation to the Finance committee. Finally, the Finance committee makes its decision based on the department requests and Administration’s recommendation, adjusts the budget accordingly, and then moves the document to the Board of Commissioners for adoption. The board voted unanimously to adopt the budget for 2019. (DK)