Bannock County residents press commissioners to restore nonprofit funding as board proposes large pay raises

Bannock County residents and local nonprofit leaders told the Bannock County Board of Commissioners at a public hearing on the FY26 budget that proposed cuts to charitable programs and a roughly 14% increase in commissioners’ pay would harm vulnerable people across the county.

Speakers including Aid for Friends, veterans and senior-service advocates urged the board to restore funding for homeless services, the veterans building, the Pocatello Senior Center and the Pocatello Free Clinic. Shannon Ansley, chair of the Aid for Friends executive board, warned that without the $30,000 funding request her agency submitted, shelter operations would shrink by an estimated 24%, reducing the number of people and children accepted into shelter services.

The hearing drew scores of residents who described the county budget as a moral document and criticized what they called a mismatch between capital spending and cuts to social services. “If Bannock County decide[s] to…