Marathon County infrastructure committee begins 2026 budget review, focuses on fees and service levels

The Marathon County Infrastructure Committee on July 9 opened a multi-month review of the county's 2026 budget-development process, emphasizing decisions about which services are mandatory, what service levels to maintain and whether to increase fees to avoid greater levy subsidies.

Committee members and staff described a three-part policy framework the county will use during budget development: (1) identify which programs are mandated by state statute and which are discretionary; (2) set service levels and quality measures for mandated programs; and (3) review rates and fees where the county has authority to charge them.

Administrator Lance Leonard told the committee the mandatory/discretionary program document in the meeting packet is meant to help supervisors decide which services the county should continue to provide and which could be transitioned to private or nonprofit providers. He cited recent work by North Central Healthcare to move a…