News Photo by Steve Schulwitz County Administrator Jesse Osmer browses through the 2025 draft budget. The county is ready to lay off seven employees to balance the budget.

ALPENA — Alpena County will have a balanced budget for the first time in many years to kick off the 2025 fiscal year, with fewer cuts than expected.

Larger cuts could still loom for the 2026 fiscal year as the county is already projecting a large shortfall that year of at least $600,000.

Proposed cuts were announced to the county board’s Budget Committee on Thursday and it will be up to the full Board of Commissioners to adopt a budget that includes those cuts before the year ends.

In total, seven full-time jobs would be cut: three from the maintenance department, a deputy at the county Sheriff’s Office, the county’s deputy on the Huron Undercover Narcotics Team, an employee from the commissioners office, and the county-paid employee for Michigan State University Extension.

A part-time Animal Control employee would also be cut if the full board approves the recommended slate of reductions.

The county was able to match revenues and expenses for next year by making the cuts, emptying its tax revolving fund, and utilizing money received from settlements with pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies that helped spread the opioid addiction crisis.

The Alpena County Board of Commissioners also utilized hundreds of thousands of dollars the county received from the federal government’s American Rescue Plan Act.

Having a balanced budget prevents the county from having to dip into its savings. Earlier this year, commissioners expected to need more than $1 million from its dwindling savings to balance the budget.

The county’s savings have dwindled over the years because large amounts of money were used to stabilize the budget and delay cuts.

Leading up to the November election, the county said it would have to cut $500,000 from the Sheriff’s Office, which would result in layoffs of multiple deputies and likely end 24-hour road patrol.

In the end, commissioners bought some time for the Sheriff’s Office to prepare for 2026, when more cuts may be on the table.

For now, the county’s cuts and financial moves saved some jobs and kept 24-hour road patrol intact.

Alpena County County Administrator Jesse Osmer said the county took what little was left in some of its funds to make the cuts as pain-free as possible, but further cuts may be necessary in 2026, because the county is already projecting a $600,000 deficit for that fiscal year. He said the tax revolving fund won’t be able to provide the financial support next time around and the American Rescue Plan Act money will be exhausted.

“At the end of the day, we had to make cuts — and not just a little bit, a lot,” Osmer said. “Those are real jobs and services that we are going to figure out how to continue providing with fewer people.”

Still, Osmer said, the county had reached a point that a balanced budget was necessary, and to do so while still saving jobs and police patrol is a win, at least for the next year.

Commissioner John Kozlowski said people still need to realize that more cuts and job losses loom. He said the county will begin the budget process earlier than ever next year to prepare for them.

“We are not out of the woods — not even close,” he said. “We will have to begin early to find ways to make more cuts, because it isn’t going to be easy.”

The county asked voters twice this year for a property tax increase that county officials said the county needed to offset the cuts. In August and November, voters rejected the proposed tax hike.

Osmer said he knows some people will say the county cried wolf, but he said that is not the case and the county will likely have to make more difficult financial decisions down the road.

“This buys us time and allows our people a chance to come up with a plan,” he said. “We didn’t want to send out pink slips on Jan. 2 right after the holidays.”

The county’s fiscal year runs from Jan.1 through Dec. 31.