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Richland County administrator outlines 2026 preliminary budget, flags $300k general-fund use and highway levy concerns
Summary
County Administrator presented a preliminary 2026 budget that includes a $300,000 draw from the general fund to balance the plan, employee step increases, new radio tower operations funding, and a warning that the highway levy has not grown since 2021 and may require increases in future years.
County Administrator Richard Clemens presented the Richland County Board of Supervisors with a preliminary 2026 budget on Sept. 16, detailing planned department staffing changes, a $147,000 package for radio tower operations and technician costs tied to an $8 million tower project, and a proposed use of about $300,000 from the county's general fund to balance the budget.
Clemens said the draft advances all full-time employees one step on the wage scale and allocates $147,000 toward tower maintenance and a radio tower technician in MIS. The preliminary budget also builds in about $750,000 in projected revenue from Pine Valley and notes that public charges for services rose while some intergovernmental revenues fell from the prior year.
Clemens told supervisors the county did not include a cost-of-living adjustment in the draft but decided to preserve step increases recommended in a recent wage study. He also said the MIS budget rose substantially to harden cybersecurity after a previous breach and because ARPA funds that had supported MIS are no longer available.
The administrator highlighted that the preliminary plan relies on a general fund transfer of just over $300,000 to balance 2026 and warned that such a drawdown is not sustainable. "We can get away with this for a year, but we need to be aware that for 2027 the budget will be even tighter," Clemens said.
Supervisors and residents asked questions about revenue allocation, particularly the wheel tax and township road maintenance. Clemens said the board has not authorized sharing wheel-tax revenues with townships; wheel-tax proceeds have been used for county road maintenance. He also noted that the highway levy has been flat since 2021 (it dropped that year) and said the county will likely need to consider a future levy increase to maintain highways.
The packet shown to the board included three accounting-style worksheets: a tax-levy distribution by fund, a levy-by-department worksheet and a budget workbook. Clemens said the county will continue to refine revenue estimates as state figures arrive and that some revenue lines may change before adoption. He recommended the board adopt the budget with the most current numbers available at the time of adoption.
Clemens described ongoing departmental restructurings in the draft, including creation of an HR director post (replacing an HR generalist), splitting emergency management from ambulance services, making certain ambulance administrative support a county staff position, and adding leads in child/youth services and behavioral health within Health and Human Services.
Board Chair Turk and several supervisors pressed for clarity on the highway levy and on how the budget approach affects townships and municipalities; Clemens said staff can return with more detail. The board did not adopt the budget at the meeting; Clemens described the presentation as the preliminary step in the budget process with formal adoption scheduled in later meetings.
Looking ahead, Clemens told supervisors the county will continue to reconcile numbers with state releases and refine levy worksheets and noted that highway-related revenues for 2025 were higher largely because of a large highway project that increased both expenses and offsetting revenue for the year.
Ending: The board received the preliminary budget for review and told staff to return with further detail; Clemens warned the board to plan for tighter budgets in 2027 if general-fund support is used in 2026.
