Johnson County supervisors advance FY2026 budget with $1.5M conservation bond authority, approve ambulance funding and multiple line items

Johnson County's Board of Supervisors on Feb. 5 took preliminary votes on a broad slate of FY2026 budget items, including formal approval of $1.5 million in conservation bond spending authority, a decision to proceed with a transit ambulance program that staff say will be largely revenue-offset, and adjustments to the sheriff's inmate-housing line item.

The session was a working vote round rather than a final budget adoption; supervisors repeatedly noted the first-round approvals can be amended later in the year. The board also set funding targets for several community grants and departmental capital requests and directed staff to return with more detailed cost and cash-flow information on several large projects.

Why this matters: the votes set spending authority that lets departments continue project planning and contract work going into the formal budget process. The conservation bond authority and the transit-ambulance decisions are the day's largest policy-relevant items because they affect multi-year capital programs (trails, park shelters) and public-safety capacity (transfers/transport units and medical equipment).

Dionne Johnson, identified in the meeting as "the director," told supervisors the county is not yet at the projected operational cadence for a dedicated transfer/transport ambulance but expects volumes to grow: "we are on average 2 to 3 bottles per day," she said, and added that Johnson County will receive central transfers when the University's admissions and transfer center goes live in March. Adam Kirko, identified as a financial analyst, summarized the budget treatment for ambulance revenues, saying, "I believe we captured the majority of it in FY25's budget," including FTEs and vehicle costs consolidated in the ambulance line.

On conservation, Brent Friedoff, director of the Johnson…