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Bourbon County commissioners trim budget lines, debate reserves and employee-benefit assumptions
Summary
Commissioners reviewed a draft 2026 budget and debated reserves, the employee-benefits increase to assume for insurance, and how those choices affect the mill levy and reserve balances.
Bourbon County commissioners spent a budget work session discussing draft 2026 spending levels, whether to rely on conservative revenue projections and how to preserve cash reserves while limiting changes to the county mill levy.
The discussion centered on three linked choices: the percent increase to assume for employee health insurance, whether to carry explicit reserve line items in operating funds, and how to absorb new items such as a potential takeover of 9-1-1 dispatch from the city. Commissioners and staff settled on using an 8% insurance increase in preliminary calculations instead of the larger figures discussed earlier, a change staff said would reduce the draft cost by roughly $67,000; removing an additional $40,000 that had been tentatively included for a second commissioner’s insurance would lower the projected increase further. Those adjustments moved the draft estimated mill levy in the discussion to about 61.027 (figures shown in the work papers), roughly 1.3 mills below an earlier projection discussed at the meeting.
Commissioners repeatedly emphasized rebuilding reserves. Staff noted that the employee-benefits fund showed an ending cash balance around $334,000 in recent years but that the working draft now records only about $102,000 after reductions. One commissioner urged that any extra sales-tax or other one-time revenue be added to reserves rather than spent.
Members asked for more precise benefit-rate information before finalizing numbers. Micah, a staff member participating in the budget discussion, asked to bring a benefits estimate from Don Doherty to the next session so the commission could confirm whether an 8% assumption was defensible. The commission instructed staff to return with updated calculations and to keep the budget work visible to the clerk so changes can be sent to commissioners in advance.
The commission voted earlier in the session on routine meeting business — approving the agenda and approving minutes — before beginning budget deliberations. Commissioners set the next budget meeting and asked staff to circulate the revised draft in advance so members can review line-item detail.
The clerk will publish the revised numbers and supporting material; commissioners signaled they expect to revisit the benefits assumption and reserve strategy in a follow-up session ahead of the final budget adoption.
