County holds public hearing and approves 2026 budgets and levies for solid waste and multiple fire districts

County meeting members on the record approved proposed 2026 budgets, levies and tax rates for the Solid Waste District, Hance Lake Conservancy District and a series of local fire protection districts after a public hearing on binding units for the 2026 budget. The approvals were made by motion and voice vote during the hearing, which included presentations from district financial advisers and chiefs.

The hearing matters because the approved budgets and levies set the 2026 tax rates and determine funding for local emergency services, debt payments and solid-waste operations. Several speakers described how assessed-value growth and one-time purchases affected tax rates and cash balances.

Jeff Peters, financial adviser for the Solid Waste District, told meeting members the district's assessed value increased about 12.3%, "far outpacing the 4% growth in the max levy," and that, as a result, the district's tax rate is expected to fall "from 0.0084 to 0.0075." Peters said the district's 2026 budget projects expenditures will outpace revenue by about $175,000 and attributed roughly $50,000 of that gap to increased homestead credits and circuit-breaker changes from Senate Bill 1. He said the Solid Waste District is expected to retain a cash balance of about $1,100,000 to absorb the shortfall.

Meeting members moved and approved the Solid Waste District budget and levies as…