Hubbard County previews 2026 budget book; commissioners weigh 7% levy cap, staffing requests and program cuts

Blake, a county budget staff member, presented an early draft of the 2026 budget book format and said the document will include multi-year historical tables, levy and FTE trends, department narratives, org charts and debt-repayment projections drawn in part from other counties' examples.

The briefing matters because commissioners will use the book to set a preliminary levy and budget assumptions in August. Blake said some numeric fields remain blank while state and federal outcomes are finalized; the work session focused on format and the types of information commissioners want to see in the first draft.

Blake said the budget book will compare Hubbard County to surrounding counties (Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Becker and Wadena) and that department-level sections will show programs, anticipated revenues and the hours allocated to them. "What I've been working on is the background information for the upcoming 2026 budget book," Blake said.

Commissioners and staff discussed preliminary…