County administrative officer: Broadwater County faces tight 2026 budget despite $176,000 in new revenue

Bill Jerockey, the county administrative officer, gave a preliminary overview of Broadwater County’s 2026 budget process and warned commissioners that the county is entering a “tight budget situation” for fiscal year 2026 despite a modest increase in revenue.

Jerockey (introduced on the agenda as the county administrative officer) said departments submitted most operation and maintenance budgets by the May 6 deadline but a handful remained overdue. He told the commission there is roughly $176,000 in additional revenue available for next year, driven primarily by floating‑mill property tax collections and a small increase in the state entitlement share. Jerockey said most of that $176,000 will be used for the 2.5% cost‑of‑living adjustment the commission approved last week.

Explaining floating‑mill revenue, Jerockey described it as the product of taxable value increases combined with the number of floating mills; he contrasted the large‑appearing growth in property value with a statutory cap on how much the county budget may increase in a fiscal year. “The statute that we’re working under for this year is, half of the rate of inflation averaged over the past 3 years,” he said, and added that the cap limits how much extra revenue the county may appropriate even when assessed value rises.

Jerockey gave figures: floating‑mill revenue for FY25 was about $2.4 million and the county projects roughly $2.56 million for FY26, a difference of about $169,000; the state entitlement increase is roughly $7,306, for a combined increase near $176,000. He framed that amount as about 1.8% of a typical $10 million county budget and said the county will be “looking for efficiencies” and fine‑tuning preliminary budgets ahead of the June budget adoption.

Jerockey and commissioners discussed the county’s desire for more commercial and industrial tax base to diversify revenues. He also flagged that the public safety department will be significantly affected by the loss of a public safety levy and that the overall county budget volume will be reduced as revenues and expenses are adjusted.

Commissioners asked for a clearer public explanation of the floating‑mill concept; Jerockey said he will provide additional detail in the next meeting and noted the commission will return to a more comprehensive preliminary budget discussion on May 28 (the chair later scheduled a fuller presentation the following week). No formal action was taken at the meeting.