Lake County reconciles books, lays out 2026 budget timeline and tighter grant, IT and capital controls

County Manager Candace told the Lake County Board of County Commissioners during a work session that the county—losed and reconciled its accounting records before the first quarter and will release a formal 2026 budget packet to offices and departments on Aug. 15, with a timeline that includes department meetings in September, a public comment window in October and a target to adopt the 2026 budget and certify a mill levy in December.

The reconciliation and the completion of the 2023 audit provide, Candace said, a more reliable foundation for departmental budgets and multi-year forecasting. "I'm super excited to say the books were reconciled before Q1," she told commissioners, adding the new packet and walkthrough are intended to help staff build budgets from two years of actuals rather than estimates.

The work session focused on three practical changes staff recommended to tighten budget controls: (1) centralizing and consistently coding professional services and IT costs rather than leaving them scattered across department budgets; (2) improving grant accounting and requiring upfront budget entries and grant approvals so matches and reimbursements are tracked; and (3) creating a multi-department review for capital requests so the county can seek economies of scale and prioritize projects countywide.

Why it matters: county staff and commissioners said those changes aim to reduce redundant purchases, make it easier to compare actuals against budgets and limit last-minute supplemental requests. Candace told the board the county currently uses 39 separate funds and said the county's revised fund-balance policy targets a minimum of roughly three months of actual operating expenses to improve resilience.

Budget timeline and next steps - Aug. 15: county staff will receive the 2026 budget packet, including line-item history for the prior two years and templates for capital and FTE requests. - Early October: staff and finance will review Q1 and Q2 actuals and departments will present preliminary budgets to the board (Oct. 1— window described by staff). - Oct. 15: a preliminary county budget will be released for public review (presenter described an October public release for preliminary comment). - Nov. 12: finance will present year-to-date results through Q3, Q4 projections and preliminary scenarios, including no-levy and capital scenarios. - Dec. 11: the timeline presented by staff shows a target adoption and mill-levy certification in December; staff said they intend to avoid the late-December frantic adoption seen in the prior year.

Candace emphasized the packet will include a secondary spreadsheet that lists every account code and two years of line-item actuals so departments can see where previous budgets diverged from actual spending. She described the packet as a new orientation for staff. "We've never actually had a budget process or a budget packet before that walks people through here's how you create your budget," she said.

Reconciliation, audit and one-time items Candace and finance staff said completing the 2023 audit in January 2025 allowed the county—or the first time in recent years to reconcile bank records to the general ledger and produce more reliable quarter-to-date actuals. She warned some professional-service and audit costs booked in the reconciled period will make Q1 professional-services lines look low until scheduled payments clear. Candace noted the county recovered roughly $172,000 from a performance-bond surety related to litigation; staff said that recovery offset legal costs but that further recoveries from liable principals are uncertain because the named entities may lack assets.

Centralizing IT and external-professional-services coding Staff proposed coding large service categories (for example, IT licensing and external legal/professional services) in centralized budget lines while retaining rollups that show which departments used the services. The goal is to track total enterprise IT and legal costs, reduce duplicate software purchases and allow procurement to negotiate bulk licensing. Presenters said decentralized coding had led to multiple departments buying similar software or licenses, increasing total county expense and making reporting harder.

Grant management and recordkeeping Finance staff described a tighter grant intake and tracking process. Departments will enter grant proposals into a shared tracking tool (Airtable was discussed as the central repository for grant records) and required grant approvals will now involve finance, HR and legal before submission. Staff said multi-year grants will be placed in a grants fund when appropriate so revenues and reimbursements are accrued and deferred correctly. The presenter said staff will require departments to account for matching funds and up-front costs so the county does not carry unplanned general-fund exposure for grant-funded work.

Capital requests, asset inventory and buildings Candace asked the board to prioritize a countywide inventory and a bid process (RFQ) for building condition assessments and longer-term asset plans. She described a proposal that a small review team including finance, IT and operations screen capital requests to identify countywide opportunities, avoid overlapping procurements (for example, multiple camera systems) and prioritize projects that serve several departments. Commissioners discussed whether the county should commission specialized engineering and renovation assessments and whether some county assets should be divested rather than rehabilitated.

Other operational topics - Fleet: staff said some counties separate fleet into its own internal service fund to better track lifecycle costs; Lake County staff said they are discussing whether to do the same. - Public safety and road maintenance: presenters and commissioners discussed budgeting for CDL training for Road & Bridge staff rather than paying overtime and travel to offsite training. The sheriff's office was described as generally under budget for personnel so far; commissioners asked how unspent personnel dollars might be redirected. - Revenue timing: finance staff reminded the board that property-tax receipts and some federal payments (PILT) concentrate in the second quarter, which causes low-looking Q1 revenue percentages.

What the board directed and what remains to be decided Discussion at the work session covered timelines, the format of the staff packet, and several implementation details. Staff said they will: - Release the 2026 packet to departments on Aug. 15 and meet with offices through late September to help prepare departmental submissions. - Require grant approvals and maintain grant documentation in a central system so reimbursements and matches are tracked. - Prepare RFQs and scope-of-work language to obtain building-condition and asset-management cost estimates for future budget years.

Commissioner Andy, speaking after the presentation, thanked staff for the new packet and said the materials will help elected officials and department directors ask clearer questions about tradeoffs during budget deliberations.

Ending: staff asked commissioners to review the Q2 memos uploaded to the county's teams site and to provide any feedback on the budget guidance; they reiterated the goal of more transparent, data-driven budget decisions and fewer last-minute supplemental requests.