Story County supervisors review countywide budget, plan carryovers and ARPA reallocations

Story County supervisors and staff spent their Feb. 7 budget work session reviewing countywide spending priorities, carryover requests and reestimates of federal and local grant revenues.

The meeting, led initially by Supervisor Lisa Heddens and continued by Supervisor Linda Merkin after Heddens left, focused on reestimating current‑year spending and placing several items into the FY 2026 request. Sandra King, director of external operations and county services, and Alyssa Wignall, director of internal operations and human resources, walked the board through detailed line‑item changes and carryover proposals.

Why it matters: supervisors must balance uncertain revenues, including local option sales tax and ARPA drawdowns, against one‑time capital needs and recurring costs such as union contract negotiations and insurance premium increases. Several decisions at the session were described as provisional pending final revenue numbers and subrecipient drawdowns.

Key budget items and reestimates

- Local option sales tax and debris site: County staff proposed carrying about $35,000 of unused local option sales tax into the next fiscal year and including $75,720 in the FY…