Dunn County committee adopts 2026 facilities, parks and fair budgets

Dunn County's Facilities Committee voted to adopt the proposed 2026 facilities, parks and fair budgets at its meeting on Aug. 13, 2025, in Room 60 of the Government Center. The motion passed by voice vote and the committee moved the budgets forward to the county's budget workshop and executive review.

Committee members approved the operating budgets after staff outlined line-item adjustments and projected revenues. The package includes updated forecasts for heating and lighting, maintenance contracts and wage allocations, and a capital-improvement placeholder of $9,500,000 for a proposed geothermal project.

Why this matters: the adopted budgets set departmental spending limits that will be reviewed by county administration and the full board during the formal budget process. The large CIP placeholder for geothermal will require later approvals if the county pursues borrowing and a parameters resolution to authorize specific debt and interest terms.

Most important facts: Austin, facilities and parks lead, told the committee he increased certain 2026 line items to reflect actual 2025 spending trends, including higher projected utilities and maintenance costs at the Government Center and Judicial Center. He said central fleet and insurance lines show no change but that some allocations were moved to more appropriate cost centers.

The committee also reviewed the capital-improvement plan. A county finance representative said the $9.5 million geothermal figure is a planning number only: "We budgeted 9.5, but there's no money until we actually borrow," the finance staff said, adding that bids and an eventual parameters resolution would set the borrowing amount and terms.

The committee discussed federal incentives. County finance staff said certain benefits from the Inflation Reduction Act remain available for projects; geothermal remains eligible for incentives for projects beyond 2026, while solar tax benefits are ramping down for some project timelines. "Projects that are done in 2026 would still qualify for that," the finance staff said of solar incentives, and added that geothermal incentives do not have the same sunset.

Committee action: a supervisor moved to adopt the 2026 facilities, parks and fair budgets; another member seconded the motion. The committee approved the package by voice vote and sent it to the county budget workshop and executive review.

Implementation notes: staff said bids, borrowing parameters and final project scopes will return to the full board prior to any debt issuance or major capital commitment. Work on geothermal design and bid preparation is expected to proceed, but construction and borrowing will depend on subsequent approvals and final cost estimates.

Less-critical details: the packet presented to the committee also included program-level summaries and earlier-year comparisons intended to support priority-based budgeting discussions at upcoming workshops.