The coronavirus has been good for Westmoreland County’s bottom line.

Commissioners on Thursday unanimously approved a $339.7 million budget for 2021 that does not raise property taxes in part because federal covid relief money held back to pay for personnel and other expenses related to the ongoing pandemic.

Property taxes will remain at 21.49 mills, a figure set last year by the outgoing board of commissioners that represented a 2.4% increase and the first tax hike in 15 years.

“Our goal this year was obviously with unemployment being so high and people being sick with covid is making sure we did not have a tax increase in 2020,” said Commissioner Sean Kertes. “We’re just trying to alleviate the burden off of the taxpayer as much as possible, and that’s what we accomplished as a core group here.”

All three commissioners participated in Thursday’s meeting by telephone. Kertes and Gina Cerilli are in quarantine after recently testing positive for covid-19.

Commissioners approved a deficit-spending budget, as has been done for nearly two decades, where projected expenses outpace revenues by $5.8 million. That deficit is expected to be offset through the county’s surplus account that was bolstered this year by savings from unspent general operating funds. Officials said about $9 million from federal CARES Act money was used to pay costs associated with the pandemic, such as salaries for frontline essential workers that in normal times would have come from the general fund.

Another $2 million in personnel costs was banked as a result of furloughing about 500 government employees in April and associated reductions health insurance expenses, said county finance director Meghan McCandless.

An additional saving is projected in 2021 through a plan to borrow $140 million to cover future mandatory government payments into the county’s pension fund. The county paid $12.7 million into the retirement account this year and was projected to pay $14.4 million in 2021.

McCandless said the planned borrowing will cover pension fund payments for the next two decades and is expected to save the county $3.5 million next year.

Commissioners said the pension-fund borrowing was another factor that prevented a tax increase.

“In any other year, I probably would not have been in favor of this because it’s just pushing it down the road to future years. However, (because of) the challenges of 2020 for our constituents, we had to do everything possible to not have a tax increase,” Cerilli said.

Commissioners came into 2020 with virtually no financial safety net and original projections anticipated the county’s surplus to be nearly exhausted by year’s end, with less than $300,000 in the bank heading into 2021. With the covid-related savings and the planned refinancing, commissioners now expect to end 2020 with a $13.8 million surplus. The county projects it will have more than $8 million in surplus funds on hand at the end of 2021.

The 2021 budget includes no expected changes to county services and does not include any additional tax revenue earmarked from the opening of Live! Casino Pittsburgh, which opened last month at Westmoreland Mall. Officials last year estimated the casino could generate about $1.7 million annually in taxes for the county and Hempfield, where it is located.

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