Sanitary District budget workshop outlines modest revenue shifts, SCADA and transfer-station projects

Pat Smoker, executive director of the sanitary district, presented the district's proposed 2026 budget to the Board of Commissioners at a budget workshop on Aug. 26, 2025, outlining revenue changes, personnel-account reassignments and capital projects that together leave the district with a modest positive cash position going into next year.

Smoker told the board that district tax revenue (account 6601) is about 0.3% lower than the prior year and that an increase in circuit-breaker credits of roughly $22,000 accounts for much of that decline. He said code-enforcement costs were moved back to Infrastructure and Development last December and that payroll-split updates removed several code-enforcement expense lines from the 6601 revenue stream. "In the end, overall, this this budget has a will have $732,000 in the plus going into next year," Smoker said.

Why it matters: The workshop review showed the budget is being adjusted for a mix of small revenue changes and deliberate timing shifts rather than a single, large new tax or rate increase. That affects near-term cash balances and the timing of capital projects that district staff and commissioners said they regard as priorities for infrastructure, regulatory compliance and long-term operating costs.

Major revenue and expense points - Tax fund (6601): Smoker said overall revenue in the tax fund fell about 0.3%, driven largely by a roughly $22,000 increase in circuit-breaker credits; at the same time, some…