Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the County Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Benton County adopts fiscal 2026 budget, enacts small countywide levy reduction
Summary
The Benton County Board of Supervisors adopted the county—fiscal year 2026 budget (Resolution 25-26), setting fund amounts and enacting a small net countywide levy reduction after staff adjustments to estimates and transfers.
The Benton County Board of Supervisors on May 20 adopted the fiscal year 2026 county budget under Resolution 25-26, approving fund totals and revised levy requests after staff presented updated estimates and recommended reductions.
Auditor—staff and finance discussion before the vote identified several adjustments to revenue and spending estimates. The adopted budget lists fund totals including General Basic at $6,185,331; General Supplemental $4,327,822; Rural Services Basic $4,468,561; Debt Service $799,542; and the Emergency Medical Services levy at $1,260,912. County staff said updated re-estimates and transfers reduced the combined countywide levy by 0.07931 percentage points from earlier figures presented to the board.
Why it matters: the budget establishes the county—fproperty tax rates and the spending authority for major service areas for the coming fiscal year. Supervisors discussed how one-time expenditures and ongoing maintenance obligations factor into the county—ffiscal outlook, and staff noted several constraints that must remain the same year to year, including the EMS levy and existing debt service tied to the county—ftower project.
Key details from the meeting: county staff said they reduced departmental spending estimates after applying a 2.5% reduction scenario and reallocated some transfers from general funds to secondary roads. The auditor—staff also walked the board through a draft state budget sheet that briefly showed an erroneous negative unassigned fund balance; staff corrected that figure before adoption and explained that committed and restricted balances account for the outcome the board reviewed.
Board action and next steps: the board made and seconded a motion to adopt Resolution 25-26 and approved it by roll call. Supervisors directed staff to finalize the corrected numbers in the printed budget copies and to provide signable copies of the adopted document. Staff also noted ongoing projects that will affect future budgets, including multi-year maintenance on the county—fradio/tower project and expected maintenance schedules tied to that work.
