Madison County postpones final vote on 2026 budget after staff reports personnel and cost changes

MADISON COUNTY, Sept. 8, 2025 — The Madison County Board of Commissioners opened a public hearing on the proposed 2026 budget on Monday evening and postponed final adoption after county staff reported several changes to personnel and line items.

Budget staff told the commission that the county's juvenile court prosecutor will not continue under the 2026 contract and that his current contract will end Dec. 31, 2025. Budget staff said the decision was communicated by email and attributed the nonrenewal to reasons outside the five-county contract arrangement. "Our juvenile court prosecutor will no longer be doing 2026. It will end his contract on 12/31/2025," Budget staff (name not specified) said. Staff said the juvenile court judge, Warren Caswell, has been notified and will have a short window to seek a replacement; the judge or his office has requested names for consideration.

Staff also said the proposed 3% cost-of-living adjustment included in earlier budget drafts for elected officials has been removed because of a "state freeze on COLAs," and that commissioners had included the COLA in the draft only as a placeholder in case the state restored it later. "There will be no elected officials' supplements or COLAs for 2026, due to the state's freeze on COLAs," Budget staff said. A later exchange in the hearing referenced a supplement figure of about $22.05, but staff did not clarify the unit or exact application.

County staff said they expect the juvenile prosecutor's salary to remain close to current levels because the position is split across five counties, but cautioned the final number could change by a few thousand dollars. "We assume, and that's all we're doing, that salary will probably remain the same because it just increased last year. But again, it could go up or down," Budget staff said.

Commissioners and staff also discussed other budget pressures, including an unexpected replacement air-conditioning unit and building repairs. One speaker said the county had a roughly $40,000 HVAC budget for 2025 and reported a recent $30,000 unit replacement this month, stressing pressure on maintenance lines.

The board was also told a firm has requested a meeting to discuss options for a possible jail expansion; staff characterized that meeting as exploratory and said no decisions or formal proposals were under consideration. "This is not something that is anywhere near concrete," Budget staff said of the jail discussion.

After staff updates and a brief period for questions, Commissioner Kirk moved to adjourn the public hearing; Commissioner May seconded the motion. The motion carried and the board recessed the hearing. A speaker said the budget "will not be adopted tonight" and that the board planned to take the item up at a later September meeting; staff indicated Sept. 29 as an available date for further action.

No formal adoption of the 2026 budget occurred at the Sept. 8 hearing. Staff and several commissioners said they would incorporate the newly reported personnel and line-item changes and circulate a revised draft before the next scheduled action.

Ending: County staff asked attendees to sign in and said the board would post a revised budget document in advance of the next meeting. The public hearing opened at 5:30 p.m.; commissioners recessed and scheduled follow-up as noted above.