08/26/2020- The full Menominee County Board of Commissioners has gotten a look at the proposed full budget for the next fiscal year. County Administrator Jason Carviou presented the draft 2020/ 2021 budget to the Board Tuesday, reiterating that he’s taken a conservative approach to crafting the document this year with a fair amount of uncertainty still surrounding the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The almost- $8.6 million budget included a strong increase in property tax revenue, however, that was immediately offset by a projected 50% decrease in interest earned. Still, Carviou is proposing drawing just $46000 from the County’s general fund this year and says they’ve entirely eliminated the $380000 operational deficit they faced last year thanks to the passage of millages supporting the library and E-911 systems.

As presented, the budget would leave about $3.6 million in the general fund’s undesignated fund balance. That’s around 42% of their operating budget and about 12% more than what other counties have in their reserves, however, Carviou says it reflects Menominee County’s historical decision not to borrow to fund major capital improvements.

The Menominee County 20/21 budget goes to public hearing September 8th and will be considered for formal adoption September 22nd.