A special meeting of the Fayette County Board of Commissioners was held at 8:30 a.m. on' Wednesday, November 27, 2024 at the commissioners meeting room, 2 West Main Street, Uniontown PA. In attendance- Commissioner Scott Dunn Commissioner Dave Lohr Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites Chief Clerk Amy Liston Assistant Solicitor Sheryl Heid Solicitor Jack Purcell (via Zoom) The meeting was called to order by Commissioner Dunn. He asked everyone to stand for a silent prayer, which was followed by the recitation of the pledge of allegiance. Public comment on agenda items- None A motion was made by Commissioner Dunn and seconded by Commissioner Vicites to consider approval of a proposed 2025 Fayette County general fund budget. Commissioner Dunn yes Commissioner Lohr no Commissioner Vicites yes Motion passed 2-1 Prior to a vote, Commissioner Lohr asked about matching grants ini the budget. Commissioner Dunn said there are $516,000 in matching grants total, including $40,000 for Mill Run Walking Trail and the remaining amount for Dunlap Creek Walking Trail Phases 1, 2 and 3. Commissioner Dunn said revenues are $53,376,658 and expenditures are $54,439,527 with a deficit of $1,184,504. He said the difference will be closed by either increasing revenues or reducing expenditures, by December 19, when itwill be adopted and balanced. He said expenses are $440,000 more than the 2024 adopted budget. He said the budget also includes a 1.9 mill tax increase for the taxpayers of Fayette County. Commissioner Vicites said there were decreases in some departments and they need too continue to work on it and make more cuts. He said there were increases ini the jail and CYS and court related administration costs and health care. Commissioner Lohr said the health care increases for the county is less than the average. He said inflation has increased everything. Commissioner Vicites said health care is 5 percent but that is a lot of $10 million for health care. He said they have a lot of work to do. 1 After the vote, Commissioner Dunn said that he wanted to make the public aware that Commissioner Lohr did not attend any oft the budget meetings. Commissioner Lohr said he was very aware ofv what was going on with the budget. Commissioner Dunn outlined how much money was received for the Sheepskin Trail and that they didn't require matches. Commissioner Vicites said nothing is more important than crafting and adopting a budget to a commissioner. He said it was irresponsible not to participate in the process. Commissioner Lohr said that was his take on it but he knows how he feels. He spoke about the high costs of building trails as his reason for not supporting the Commissioner Vicites said it is a $54 million budget and a small percentage is for bike trails. The commissioners discussed costs for bike trails and economic impact for trails and the amendments to the budget. Commissioner Dunn said they are dealing with budget. He said it is tax dollars and he won't support it. 2024 shortfalls due to reduced revenues. Public comment- None Adjournment A motion was made by Commissioner Lohr and seconded by Commissioner Vicites to adjourn the meeting. Commissioner Dunn yes Commissioner Lohr yes Commissioner Vicites yes Motion passed unanimously 2