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Lincoln County auditor outlines budget calendar, recommends purchase agent and capital plan
Summary
Auditor Sherry Lund presented a proposed 2025 budget calendar and planning process and urged the commission to consider establishing a centralized purchasing agent and a capital improvement plan; commissioners discussed a possible 2.9–3% baseline for department budget increases.
Sherry Lund, Lincoln County auditor, presented the budget committee’s proposed calendar and process and described recommendations to strengthen budget discipline.
Lund said the committee — including Commissioners Jim Schmidt and Jake Oakland and county staff — reviewed the budget calendar, job questionnaires, new-position requests and vehicle purchase requests. She asked the board to set a threshold for routine budget increases; she noted the consumer price index figure the state allows for tax increases is 2.9 percent and asked commissioners to consider a similar guideline for departmental increases.
Lund presented summary budget figures from the draft 2025 package: expenditures listed across expense categories totaled $47,701,703.85; revenues were shown as roughly $40 million; and preliminary ‘cash applied’ was $6,924,302.63. Lund said the county has seen modest decreases in cash balances in recent years and reminded commissioners that budget authority and available cash are both required before funds may be spent. She said outside-agency allocations in the 2025 budget totaled about $228,000 and that codified law limits direct county funding for senior citizens to $20,000; the committee found last year’s funding exceeded that amount and will change the process accordingly.
The budget committee recommended creating a centralized purchasing agent to consolidate supply purchases, establishing a capital improvement plan for long-term projects (including handling the new Justice Center and the future of the old courthouse), and adopting an annual fee resolution to standardize charges across departments.
Commissioners discussed the 2.9 percent CPI number and whether to use 3 percent as a working guideline; Commissioner Paul Arons said he would support 3 percent. Commissioners also noted uncertainty about operating costs tied to the new courthouse facility and emphasized that budgets function as planning guides and often require supplemental hearings when unanticipated needs arise.
Lund said department heads will present high-level summaries — reviewing 2024 results, 2025 expectations and likely 2026 requests — as part of the calendar. Commissioners asked for deadlines for FTE and vehicle requests to reduce midyear supplemental requests and agreed to peer review of budgets by the committee prior to submission.
No formal board vote was taken on a CPI threshold at the meeting; commissioners discussed and indicated general support for using the state CPI figure or a 3 percent guideline but asked for further consideration and formal action at a later date.
