Valley County budget workshop: commissioners review L2 worksheet, proposed budgets and staffing changes

Valley County commissioners held a budget workshop during which staff reviewed the state tax commission L2 worksheet, departmental budget proposals and several staffing and funding requests for fiscal year 2026.

The county's clerk's office told commissioners the L2 worksheet showed the county could levy the full 3% increase plus new construction, producing $301,169 from the 3% and $209,656 from new construction for a combined additional capacity of $510,825. The clerk said the total property tax levy capacity across all funds would be $10,516,531. The clerk presented a proposed general fund budget of $19,065,844.67 and said the county would need approximately $3,600,000 in cash forward; the proposed general fund levy amount was $7,919,273.28, about $500,000 higher than last year.

Staff told commissioners projected county revenue is down about 1.53 percent year over year, driven largely by reductions in grant revenue. Department-level changes included steep increases in benefit-related expenses: countywide benefits were projected to rise…