Portage County officials signaled approval to prepare a $390,000 budget amendment to cover unanticipated maintenance costs, including a $60,000 boiler ordered for the county administrative building.

Finance staff described last year’s maintenance budget being reduced to match 2024 actuals, with roughly $100,000 held in contingency for inflation. Maintenance has since taken on additional work — utilities and repairs at the Juvenile Detention Center (JDC), upgrades at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), HVAC failures and a patched roof — producing higher-than-expected costs. Staff said a supplemental need of about $330,000, plus the $60,000 boiler, brings the total to about $390,000; the board directed staff to prepare a formal budget amendment for the board to consider next week.

County budget staff explained funding availability and competing demands. The transcript shows staff saying $3,000,000 was being held to cover potential sheriff collective-bargaining costs, with an estimated $1,300,000 attributable to that liability and roughly $1,700,000 remaining. Staff said $100,000 of contingency was previously set aside and a line labeled roughly $1,745,000 was intended to cover additional unfunded miscellaneous requests; after the proposed appropriation, staff projected remaining contingency in the $1.35 million range.

Discussion versus action: The meeting record documents a discussion of projected maintenance overages and a direction to prepare a budget amendment; the transcript does not show a final roll-call vote approving the amendment at that meeting. Separately, the board did vote earlier in the meeting to process budget amendments as reviewed and recommended by the Department of Budget and Financial Management (roll-call recorded: Sabrina yes; Jill yes; Mike yes).

What was specified: Staff described specific maintenance costs at JDC (utilities, HVAC repair, freezer failure) and EOC upgrades; the boiler purchase order for the county administrative building was placed and staff said the boiler had been put on order. The public defender’s partial occupancy move-in schedule for a separate building was discussed in the same segment but is not part of this budget direction.

(Ending) A formal appropriation ordinance/amendment is to be presented to the board next week for approval; the transcript contains no final adoption vote for the $390,000 appropriation.