FARMINGTON -- The latest budget cycle in Davis County has come and gone without much comment from the public.
A series of hearings on the county's financial plan for 2010 ended quietly Tuesday night at Farmington Junior High School when Davis County commissioners approved next year's budget.
No one from the public attended the last hearing, and few attended any of the other public sessions.
"The cold and snow might have kept them away," said Commissioner Bret Millburn.
More than likely it was a less-than-controversial budget, he added.
The $93 million budget for next year is $1.5 million less than the 2009 plan and does not include any new taxes or fee increases.
Davis County employees also will forgo a cost-of-living increase next year.
Last year, the county employees received a 3.5 percent cost-of-living-allowance increase, plus any performance pay.
This year, the Davis County Employees Association did not directly ask for an across-the-board pay increase.
DCEA President Brian McKenzie, whose group represents about 500 county employees, said they did ask the county to maintain benefits.
McKenzie said his group recognized the struggling economy the commission was facing.
Commissioners said the county's health care insurance premium is expected to increase by an annualized 6 percent, or around $700,000, in 2010.
Employees will pay part of that insurance increase, but most county employees also get the yearly performance pay increase.
The average performance pay jump is about 1 percent and paid in a lump sum, said Mel Miles, personnel director.
"Departments have been very frugal in their utilization of budget appropriations," said County Clerk/Auditor Steve Rawlings. who is chairman of the budget process.
To save money, the Davis County Sheriff's Office and the health department, among others, did not fill open positions during the year -- all together 41 full-time equivalent positions that were not filled in 2009.
Rawlings said the lowered cost for constructing new buildings has saved the capital budget millions of dollars, which also contributed to a new budget without any further major reductions.
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