The Board of County Commissioners on July 7 voted to publish a notice and schedule a public hearing to consider a proposed budget that could exceed the county's revenue-neutral tax rate, setting an upper limit of 45.903 mills. The motion passed unanimously.

The county administrator told the commission the current mill levy is about 41.187 and that the revenue-neutral rate for 2026 would have been about 39.989; the 45.903 figure is an upper limit for public-notice purposes, not a final levy. "That does not mean that we're going to go up to that limit. It means we cannot go over that limit, and that we will be required to have a hearing to go over what our revenue neutral rate is," the county administrator said.

The administrator said the county has cut roughly $1 million to $1.5 million so far but would need substantially larger reductions to stay at revenue-neutral — he estimated cuts in the range of $2.5 million or more unless other adjustments are made. He characterized the situation as the culmination of problems from prior years and said it might take a year to "right-size" the budget. He also noted the county is working with auditors to close prior-year numbers and expected more details from auditors within one to two weeks.

Commissioners discussed the public communication implications and the need to identify further cuts before the hearing. The administrator provided an example of taxpayer impact: matching the upper limit would be roughly $11.50 per mill, or about $55 a year on a $100,000 home if the levy were increased by four to five mills.

Direction: staff will continue work sessions to identify further cuts, combine commissioner suggestions and prepare state forms and public-notice materials. Decision: The commission approved the notice to exceed the revenue-neutral rate, with recorded votes of Commissioner Beaver: yes; Commissioner Cordray: yes; Commissioner Klubine: yes.

Ending: The clerk was instructed to file the updated revenue-neutral notice by the statutory filing deadline so the public hearing can proceed with a clearly stated upper limit.