Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the County Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Benton County supervisors set budget timeline, discuss levy, reserves and budget amendment
Summary
Auditor staff told supervisors the county must upload levy figures before the state deadline; the board set a date for budget amendment No. 3 and discussed using reserves, ARPA reimbursements, and options to avoid drawing down fund balances.
Benton County officials discussed the county’s budget, upcoming public hearings on the maximum levy, and the need for a budget amendment to cover regional mental‑health retention pay.
Hailey, county staff member in the auditor’s office, told the board the county must upload levy information to the state by the next day and explained the public notice language that shows a 12% figure based on the countywide comparison. She said the first required public hearing for the maximum levy is scheduled for March 26 and described the separate budget adoption process that follows; “once that’s published and the budget’s adopted, we cannot go back in and go above that, but we can cut,” she said.
The board agreed to set the date of April 1 for budget amendment No. 3 to allow the county to cover retention pay tied to regional mental‑health staffing and to submit the amendment for reimbursement. A supervisor moved to set April 1 as the amendment date; the motion was seconded and passed by recorded voice vote.
Board members and staff reviewed fund balances, noting that the county has relied on reserves and on ARPA funds in recent years. Hailey cautioned that repeated use of reserves would deplete the cushion the county uses to operate between July and tax‑collection months. “That bottom number’s gotta go down,” one supervisor said, urging departments to identify potential cuts and consider a budget work session before final adoption.
Why it matters: The levy submission and the amendment schedule are time‑sensitive: the auditor must file levy information with the state before the statutory deadline and the board must hold public hearings before adopting the budget. The discussion also emphasized the county’s desire to limit use of reserves and to plan for worst‑case spending.
Next steps: Staff will submit the levy figures to the Department of Management, publish required notices, schedule the March 26 public hearing, and place budget amendment No. 3 on the April 1 agenda for formal action.
