Kootenai County trims FY26 draft budget, cuts ALPR funding and removes frozen deputy positions

Kootenai County commissioners on July 23 directed staff to make several targeted changes to the county's FY26 draft budget, including removing two previously frozen sheriff deputy positions, cutting $24,000 for mobile automated license-plate reader (ALPR) data storage and reducing a proposed land purchase for Search and Rescue.

Brandy Falcon, county finance staff, told the board the draft budget shows a $678,000 surplus at a 3% tax increase and a $58,000 surplus at a 2% tax increase with no cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). "If we do the 1% COLA scenario, we are only $14,000 deficit at a 3% tax increase," Falcon said. She said those figures exclude any revenues the county is still waiting to receive from the City of Hayden and that she plans to present a balanced budget on July 31 "with or without Hayden's revenue."

The board agreed to several operational and capital adjustments during the meeting. Commissioners instructed staff to remove two frozen patrol positions that had been requested by the sheriff's office and to cut the $24,000 line item for mobile ALPR data storage after multiple commissioners said they preferred to wait for a fuller presentation on the program's community effect and investigative benefit. "That is a officer safety feature. That is a investigative tool, and we have not had any breaches into that system," Robert Norris, Kootenai County sheriff, said in defense of the ALPR program; commissioners nonetheless…