Knox County leaders are working to balance the county's budget for the next fiscal year.
The preliminary budget shows a deficit of about $668,000 in the general fund.
The county has estimates of $10,909,678 in expenditures, and $10,241,438 in revenues.
Treasure Robin Davis says numerous factors contributed to the deficit.
“Fines and fees are decreasing, property taxes are probably going to go down, and expenditures are continuing to go up.”
Davis says there is a small increase in personnel, utility, and fuel costs, while sales and income taxes are holding steady.
She adds that it’s up to the county board to decide how to reduce the deficit.
“They can either look at possibly transferring from outside funds, or looking at some of the requests from different departments and saying ‘Okay, is there any way we could reduce that or put that off for another year?’, such as if they’re wanting a major equipment purchase,” Davis says.
The finance committee is scheduled this week to discuss the budget.