Beaufort County presents balanced draft budget with $181.9 million general fund, moves garage to internal service fund

Beaufort County staff presented a draft fiscal year 2026 budget at the council's budget workshop, showing a projected general fund of approximately $181,907,989 and a higher estimated mill value.

County budget presenter Harriet said the presentation covered general fund changes, personnel requests, vehicle and equipment needs, and capital improvement projects. She told the council that the county had incorporated a 3% cost-of-living adjustment into salary line items and that the solid waste department would move back into the general fund while the county garage would move out to an internal service fund to generate revenue through charging other public entities.

Harriet said the estimated value of a mill for FY26 is $2,900,000, up from $2,700,000 in the prior year's estimate. She reported that estimated tax revenue for the general fund would increase by about $11.6 million. Fiscal year 2025 adopted budget after a fleet-related fund-balance amendment was about $160,170,215; the FY26 projected general fund figure presented to council was $181,907,989.

Harriet and staff described personnel requests the administrator recommended, including three full-time and one part-time position for family court, three full-time and one part-time positions for animal services, EMS shift positions previously presented, and nine new positions for the Hilton Head Airport enterprise fund (counted as enterprise fund positions; staff said the airport has revenue to absorb that $361,000 cost).

Budget staff and the fleet director Todd explained equipment and vehicle requests. The general fund vehicle request was presented as $4.9 million after a “scrub” that reduced an original request near $9.8 million; total vehicle and equipment requests across funds were higher. Todd said roughly 80% of vehicles requested were replacements. Harriet said the departments and staff reduced equipment requests by about $2.5 million from their original submissions.

Carolyn Wallace of Capital Improvements overviewed the CIP list and said 91 projects are on the proposed list for FY26; some are “shovel ready,” others are multi-year. Staff presented fund-balance figures for CIP: roughly $28.7 million in previously allocated-but-not-started projects and a proposed $24 million of new projects for FY26; staff said they were still fine-tuning exact allocations.

On enterprise funds, Harriet said proposed transfers from the general fund to enterprise funds are $0 for FY26; staff emphasized the goal of having enterprise funds operate independently. For the garage/internal service fund, staff said projected revenues and expenditures were both about $3.9 million and that the garage would begin seeking memoranda of understanding with municipalities and the school district to provide fleet services the county hopes to bill for.

Administrators outlined next steps on the budget calendar: staff will publish the full budget in advance of the Finance Committee presentation, then present a first reading of the county ordinance on the budget (staff used the phrasing “20 first” and later dates of May 12 for first reading and May 19 for outside entities on the calendar). Harriet said the full backup documentation would be included in agenda packets prior to formal hearings.

Council members asked about contingency and flexibility; Harriet said the county typically holds a $1 million contingency and that some of the mill increase would be placed into contingency to absorb cost increases. Council members asked which CIP items were shovel-ready and whether the garage-as-internal-service would be documented to avoid future reversals; staff and the fleet director described plans to create MOUs and restore billing practices the county used previously.

The budget presentation was informational; staff asked council for direction and said they could return with additional options such as a flat-dollar COLA alternative.

Ending: Staff emphasized the numbers were still being fine-tuned and promised the council a full packet before committee and council readings. Harriet said departments continued to review line items and that staff would return with updated figures as questions arise.