Boone County board places FY2026 budget on 15-day layover after wide-ranging discussion on sheriff requests, servers and tax-assessment software

The Boone County Board on Wednesday voted to place the fiscal year 2026 budget on a required 15-day public layover while members and staff continued to negotiate new initiatives and capital priorities.

Becky Tobin, the county finance staff presenter, told the board “revenue for the General Fund, the levy includes a $350,000 increase to help pay the 15% increase in health insurance that went into effect on July 1.” Tobin also said the draft budget uses $2,500,000 in reserves: $1,500,000 would transfer to the capital fund for construction projects, $500,000 to a property maintenance fund for jail work and another $500,000 to a new Series 2026 bond fund to help cover high bond payments in 2027 and 2028.

The board’s discussion focused on how to allocate an available $534,586 in the general fund for new initiatives and capital. Tobin said that figure is the maximum the board could allocate for new initiatives out of the general fund and that “you don't have to spend it all.” The budget also includes a 3% raise for nonunion employees and a 5% increase for the probation office requested by the 17th Circuit.

Sheriff (name not specified) urged the board to consider public-safety staffing and vehicles when allocating limited funds. The sheriff said the corrections division is spending “approximately $25,000 a month on overtime” and that the jail’s average daily population “through September is 71 compared to 58 in 2024.” He said those trends and Safety Act booking patterns have increased staff workload and overtime, a central rationale for requesting additional correctional officers and other resources.

Board members debated specific items in the sheriff’s package, which included either one or two new correctional officers, vehicles to replace high-mileage patrol units and items such as license-plate-recognition cameras, nonlethal pepper-ball launchers and Flock safety cameras. Several board members emphasized trade-offs between buying vehicles and nonlethal equipment. One member summarized an option discussed in the meeting: reducing the proposed $31,000 software line item and asking other taxing districts to contribute so more money could be reallocated for sheriff priorities.

Jessica (assessment office) joined by phone to answer questions about the True Roll software request, which staff listed at $31,000. Jessica said “the software benefits everyone, and specifically, the benefit is to all taxing districts because the end result of this program, if it works as expected, would be to put more property back on the tax roll.” She told the board it is common practice for taxing districts to contribute to contested cases and suggested the county could ask school and park districts to share the cost. Jessica also said the software vendor offered contract language tying payment to results: if the product does not return the promised property value to the roll, the county could discontinue the contract.

Highway engineer Justin provided a separate memo on levy restoration, noting Boone County’s bridge and culvert needs. Justin said the county has “17 county bridges, 51 Township Bridges” and calculated annualized bridge-related expenses that, he argued, support a higher levy over the long term to match cash flow for infrastructure needs.

Board members directed staff to continue negotiations with departments, to ask potential partner taxing districts about contributing to the assessor’s software cost, and to refine the sheriff’s package with his command staff before the next administrative and finance meetings. Tobin said the layover provides time to make changes and that the board can still make adjustments before the final vote.

The board approved the formal motion to place the FY2026 budget on layover; the motion carried by voice vote.