Sheridan County Board of County Commissioners met in a special session June 16 to review the county’s proposed fiscal year 25/26 budget and to consider staff-provided options for closing a projected revenue shortfall.

Ida Shunt Thompson, the county budget officer, told commissioners that the packet she distributed included a comparison of the adopted revenue total ($22,000,000) and the staff projection for FY 25/26 (about $20,000,000), a difference of roughly $1.8 million. “If you turn to the last page, you’ll see the totals,” Thompson said. She described the packet’s middle column as the “current to date” revenue numbers and the third column as the staff estimates as of June 16.

Thompson presented two scenarios for commissioners’ consideration. Option A applies the personnel reductions listed in the vacancy notice the board approved earlier; staff estimated that following that list would yield an approximate positive swing of $900,700 compared with the unadjusted budget. Option B incorporates updated fixed-cost submissions from three departments (public health, coroner and the airport) and — with the assumptions Thompson listed, including that Lincoln Financial and EyeMed premiums showed no increase — produced a positive variance of about $402,292. Thompson cautioned that some workers’ compensation and staffing items still required minor correction.

County administrative staff and the clerk clarified that the options are preliminary projections, not final decisions. Commissioners and department heads repeatedly requested updated, department-specific budget sheets so the board can see the effect of staff requests (for example, assessor staffing needs and sheriff’s vacancy updates) and any changes HR or payroll data cause in benefits expense.

Several department heads asked for revised budget inserts to be prepared and reissued to the commissioners. County staff said they could assemble an Option C that incorporates changes discussed at the meeting and recommended publishing the public hearing on July 21 with a special meeting to consider final adoption on July 22 if staff can deliver updated figures in time.

No formal action or vote on the overall budget was taken at the June 16 special meeting; commissioners directed staff to provide updated budget spreadsheets reflecting the items and staffing changes discussed, and to add the library’s updated numbers into a revised fixed-cost option for review.

Ending: Commissioners scheduled follow-up work to produce revised budget options and gave staff direction to prepare updated department-level numbers for the next meeting and the published public hearing in July.