OTTAWA COUNTY CONCLUDES MOST TRANSPARENT BUDGET PROCESS IN COUNTY HISTORY

WEST OLIVE, Michigan ? The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners concluded the most transparent budget process in memory during its September 26, 2023 Board meeting, voting to approve the FY 2024 Budget presented by County Administration. The budget presented to the Commissioners and the public included the following new changes:

Department and Program funding is now included in the budget and presented first
Intergovernmental grants are now included, showing state, local, and other external grants and funds received by the County
Accounts Payable are now included, showing all recipients of County payments
Two additional special work sessions were held, giving the Commissioners and the public more opportunities than ever before to view and deliberate the proposed budget
Successive iterations of the budget were posted online, so that changes made throughout the process were maximally visible and transparent to the public

By the Numbers

The overall County budget takes in $110,304,262 in general fund revenue and appropriates $109,850,501 in general fund expenditures. This fiscally responsible budget represents the smallest year-over-year increase in adopted general fund expenditures since 2018.

Department of Public Health (DPH) budget (adopted expenditures):

DPH Adopted Expenditures by Year
FY 2024	$14,397,715
FY 2023	$15,258,827
FY 2022	$14,196,134
FY 2021	$12,885,857
FY 2020	?$12,595,671
FY 2019	$11,377,533

is funded at $14,397,715, the 2^nd highest level in the past 15 years. This is a 5.6% decrease from last year?s FY 2023 budget, which was the highest ever in the Department?s history
Fully funds critical programs such as Ottawa Food, Communicable Disease, and others
is a 7% increase over the FY2021 budget and roughly the same as the FY2022 budget, years in which all required programs and services were performed without issue
is not accepting $2.2 million in COVID grants originally proposed by DPH, as the World Health Organization and the White House both declared in May 2023 that the public health emergency due to COVID is over
is more than 20% higher than the last pre-COVID budget year of FY 2019

The County Administrator would like to thank all County departments and staff for their time and effort in preparing the FY 2024 budget.