Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budgeting topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County finance staff outline move to target-based budgeting, urge common assumptions for FY26 process
Summary
County finance staff described a transition toward target-based budgeting, emphasizing service-level priorities, larger discretionary budget buckets and fewer year-end transfers. Staff asked departments to adopt common assumptions about wage/benefit growth, revenue forecasts and the role of discretionary funding during the FY26 process.
County finance staff reviewed a shift toward a target-based budgeting approach during an extended Sept. 5 work session, explaining how the FY26 process will change the way departments present service priorities and manage discretionary funds.
Finance staff said the new approach emphasizes defining service lines and service levels first, then estimating costs for a baseline budget and using remaining discretionary funds to address priorities. Under the model, departments will receive fewer small, detailed line-item buckets and instead operate with larger discretionary categories that are easier to manage through the fiscal year.
Finance staff asked departments to adopt a common set of assumptions for the FY26 process: sales-tax forecast growth of roughly 3'2% annually in normal years (historically 3'5%), property-tax revenue driven by new growth rather than inflation, and wage/benefit pressure that tends to outpace sales-tax growth (staff cited historic wage growth and benefit trends of roughly 8—2% in recent cycles). Staff said nondiscretionary items such as wages, benefits and internal-service charges will be treated as largely fixed when calculating available discretionary funds.
Department leaders were told to expect fewer internal transfers and to manage within broader buckets. Finance staff said departments should first look for efficiencies and minor reassignments inside those discretionary buckets before bringing supplemental requests to the commission. Staff also suggested smaller, frequent tax adjustments as one predictable way to address long-term structural gaps between revenue growth and rising costs.
The presentation outlined a timeline for departmental work sessions with the commission and emphasized early department-commission conversations to reduce surprises at final budget adoption.
No formal decisions were taken; commissioners scheduled follow-up department work sessions and will continue to review FY26 options during the budget calendar.
