County budget committee forwards FY2026 budget, recommends revenue-neutral tax rate

County budget committee members voted to forward the county’s FY2026 budget package and recommended a revenue-neutral tax rate of 1.421 to the full county commission. The committee also reviewed long-term capital project schedules and debated whether to remove placeholder items for multiple future ambulance stations, but made no appropriations or site commitments for those projects.

The budget motion carried and the committee moved the appropriation resolution forward as required by law; committee members recorded that the recommended tax rate would be unchanged at 1.421 for 2025–26. Committee discussion focused on long-term capital schedules appended to the budget rather than on the legally required, published fiscal-year budget figures.

Committee members noted the long-term planning schedules list a series of proposed ambulance/EMS stations in future years. Several members said the entries are placeholders without assigned sites or firm project plans. Commissioner Mansfield asked for clarification and emphasized that the long-term schedules did not yet include the Westmoreland station currently under construction. Staff confirmed that the capital schedules represent requests and planning placeholders collected from departments and are not appropriations.

Commissioners debated whether the placeholders should remain in the published material. One commissioner moved to strike several of the multi-year EMS placeholders; that motion failed on a voice vote. The committee discussed sending the long-term plan items to the Health and Emergency Management committee for additional review; Health and Emergency Management had already received the materials, staff said.

Committee members also discussed notice and procedural limits for changing the published budget: altering the published FY2026 budget now would require republication and additional hearings under state law, staff reminded the committee.

The committee recorded several related procedural approvals during the meeting, including forwarding the appropriation resolution and recommending approval of the county budget to the full commission. No new tax rate was adopted at the committee level; the 1.421 recommendation will be considered by the full county commission.

Less-critical items in the long-term schedule — conceptual projects with no locations specified — were left in the packet for planning purposes rather than as budgeted appropriations.

Committee members said staff will provide additional detail on any future capital projects before funds are appropriated.