County Administrator Lance Leonard on Oct. 8 presented the Health and Human Services Committee with highlights of Marathon County’s proposed 2026 budget, emphasizing implementation of a countywide compensation update, targeted staffing changes, and a conservative approach to using reserves or issuing new bonds for capital projects.

"The number one budget priority that was identified by the board was implementing the compensation update," Leonard said. He told the committee administration and department heads aligned priorities and assumptions set earlier by the County Board while making the budget and noted the document is available on the county website.

Why it matters: Leonard said the budget is balanced but tight, with many departments presenting flat or reduced budgets despite inflation and rising labor costs. He urged the board not to use general fund reserves to buy down the tax rate going forward and recommended that any additional funds be applied to deferred capital projects rather than recurring operating costs.

Major points and department-level highlights

- Compensation and staffing: The budget implements the wage study across departments. Administration reported a net reduction of about 15 funded positions compared with last year through defunding and other adjustments while adding a small number of new positions tied to board priorities. Leonard described the approach as "shared sacrifice."

- Health department: The budget includes a new public-health homelessness coordinator position and ongoing funding for emergency shelter services in partnership with the city. Administration said the health department’s overall budget came in slightly lower than 2025 despite wage and benefit cost increases because staff aligned fee-supported programs and other efficiencies.

- Social services and placements: The social services out-of-home placement budget is about $5,860,000 for 2026, an increase of about $79,000 over 2025 after administration cut placement projections by more than $500,000 to help balance the budget. Leonard noted the most expensive placements can exceed half a million dollars annually: "The most expensive placement we have, a level 5 treatment foster care placement for a year is more north of $585,000. Institutional care placements over $330,000." He said the county also has a high-cost placement reserve of $400,000.

- Veterans services: The veterans department will expand a 0.75 full-time equivalent to a 1.0 position to handle increased caseloads; the department’s 2025 work helped veterans secure $3,520,000 in retroactive payments and about $44,000,000 in ongoing claims-related compensation, Leonard said.

- Multi-county partners: The Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) budget is flat for 2026. Leonard noted the ADRC moved to the Lakeview campus in 2025 and that the relocation reduced rent expense and improved accessibility. Northcentral Healthcare’s 2026 budget is also flat; Leonard said its total budget runs into the tens of millions and that the county’s levy funding for Northcentral is roughly $5.86 million. He flagged ongoing fiscal uncertainty from federal and state Medicaid changes and the need to monitor census and staffing at 24/7 operations such as the nursing home and behavioral health programs.

- Capital and debt strategy: Leonard urged the board to avoid repeated use of reserves and to be strategic about bonding. He outlined a financing option that would use existing general obligation debt capacity and internal debt-service arrangements — a move he said could save taxpayers interest costs compared with a new bond issue. Citing a hypothetical example, he said that borrowing $20 million at 3% interest over 20 years would cost about $6,890,000 in interest; at 4% it would be about $9,430,000; and at 5% it would exceed $12,000,000 in interest, arguing the county has a chance to reduce future financing costs by using existing debt structure where appropriate.

Timetable and next steps

Leonard said the administrator’s budget was presented to and accepted by the HR Finance and Property Committee the day before; chair Robinson said that committee accepted the budget and that publication for public review is scheduled ahead of the public hearing. The committee may amend the budget before the county’s Nov. 11 adoption date; Leonard asked supervisors to direct any modifications toward deferred capital projects rather than ongoing levy support.

The committee did not take a final vote on the budget during this meeting; administration and committee leaders reviewed timelines and asked members to submit amendment ideas promptly.