XENIA — The Greene County Board of Commissioners approved the 2018 budget at their Nov. 30 meeting.

The finalization comes before the Ohio Revised Code’s May 1 deadline, something County Administrator Brandon Huddleson said he is proud of.

“It’s helpful for all of our departments. For years, we would approve temporary budgets, partial budgets, so then it’s way into the year when you have a final budget and elected officials have no idea what their allocation is going to be … If we approve it this early … they know January 1 how much they have for the entire year,” he said.

Huddleson said the new document includes money reserved for the continuation of capital improvement in the county like replacing parking lots and other maintenance.

Plans are made for the Juvenile Justice Center to get a new roof ($450,000), the third phase of the downtown HVAC project ($2 million), and new voting machines for the county (an additional $500,000).

Another big ticket item on the budget is the water and sewer line that is planned to run to the Lewis A. Jackson Regional Airport, a controversial decision among the commissioners that would cost around $1 million.

The commissioners also placed money in the capital budget to repair the tennis courts at the Frank Seaman Park in Jamestown and at the Fairgrounds Recreation Center, as well as replacing the basketball courts at the rec center.

A budget stabilization fund will allow for a sort of safety net for the county.

“If revenue fall short of our projections, we have the ability to go to a budget stabilization fund to make up those shortfalls,” Huddleson said.

The county administrator added that their performance with Workers’ Compensation has allowed for some savings, ultimately lowering the original budget numbers.

The general fund totals to $58,182,735, while the operational piece of that is $49,800,000 and the remainder goes into capital improvement and budget stabilization.