Washoe County unveils 'Washoe Checkbook' and outlines FY2026 budget and transparency tools

Washoe County officials on July 22 presented the new Washoe Checkbook portal and a fiscal 2026 budget overview, telling residents the online tool will show daily-updated spending and link to the county's budget documents and audits.

The presentation, led by Commissioner Claire Andreola and Washoe County Chief Financial Officer Abby Yacobin, explained why the county must adopt a certified, balanced budget under Nevada law and how the new Checkbook is intended to make that information easier for residents to use.

The portal provides point-in-time spending data and links to budget and audit documents. "It is live. It refreshes every 24," said Commissioner Claire Andreola, describing the portal's update cadence. Comptroller Kathy Hill demonstrated the site and said the "total spending" view reflected $24,160,000 in disbursements at the time of the presentation.

Why it matters: County staff said the portal and accompanying materials aim to increase transparency about where tax dollars come from and how they are spent, and to make recurring budget documents (budget book, annual comprehensive financial report and quarterly financial reports) easier to navigate.

Overview and context: Lori Cook, Washoe County budget manager, summarized key legal and policy constraints that shape the county budget. Cook said Nevada law requires an adopted, certified budget each year and that the county must submit its certified budget to the Nevada Department of Taxation. "The budget is a separate plan... we are legally required to have an adopted budget every single year per statute," Cook said, adding that the county cannot issue debt to cover ongoing operations and that willfully overextending a departmental budget is a crime under state statute.

Cook walked through the county's budget calendar and policies: the county typically provides a preliminary outlook by January, receives consolidated revenue projections in March, submits a tentative budget to the state by April 15, and must hold a public hearing no earlier than the third Monday in May and no later than May 31; the final certified budget must be submitted to the state by June 1. She described fund-balance policies in place: a restricted stabilization amount set at a minimum of $3,000,000 (capped at 10% of budgeted expenditures) and an unrestricted working-capital policy of 10% to 17%; Nevada requires a statutory minimum 4% fund balance.

Budget figures and risks: County staff said the adopted FY2026 budget is "a little over a billion dollars" in total authority; when measured only as expenditures (excluding transfers and contingency) staff reported about $932,000,000. The FY2026 general fund was described as the largest fund, accounting for roughly 51% of total uses. Cook said salaries and employee benefits together account for roughly two-thirds (about 66%) of total uses, and identified rising PERS (Public Employees' Retirement System) liabilities and other structural trends as drivers that increase long-term pressure on the general fund. A five-year forecast shown during the presentation projected averages where revenues grow about 4.6% annually while uses grow 5.5%, producing a structural gap: staff highlighted that under current assumptions the county's fund balance could drop below internal policy levels by FY2029 and below the state's 4% statutory minimum by FY2030 unless changes are made.

How the Checkbook works and documents available: Comptroller Kathy Hill and CFO Abby Yacobin demonstrated the portal and said it allows users to: view budgeted versus spent amounts by fund and department, inspect vendor payment details (searchable by vendor name), and access budget book chapters and the annual comprehensive financial report. Hill said the annual financial audit includes a single audit for federal funds (about four weeks) and a financial statement audit (typically six to ten weeks) and that the Checkbook does not create new information but is an interactive presentation of data that has been publicly available in county documents.

Public engagement and next steps: Officials said they have been collecting questions from residents for a month and plan to post FAQs and add statutory or compliance links directly into relevant Checkbook pages as a follow-up. CFO Abby Yacobin said the county will send a survey to solicit feedback on the portal and that staff will update the site and FAQ content based on user questions.

Closing: Commissioner Claire Andreola framed the launch as part of Washoe County's commitment to transparency and said she hoped other jurisdictions would adopt similar tools. County staff directed residents to the Washoe County website for the Checkbook link and said the portal and related documents would be posted online for replay and later review.