Kootenai County commissioners set direction for FY2026 budget development

Kootenai County commissioners on March 6 directed staff on a set of procedures to guide development of the fiscal year 2026 budget, including continuing anniversary-based step increases for employees, routing personnel requests through Human Resources and following Policy 600 for job reclassification and grading.

The guidance matters because it sets the administrative rules departments must follow while preparing budget requests that will determine staffing, operating and capital spending — and it frames the timing and information the auditor will use to present revenue and deficit scenarios, including a 0% tax-increase baseline and options up to a 3% increase.

Finance Director Brandy Falcon opened the meeting by asking for direction on a list of personnel, operating and capital budget rules. "So today I just, wanna go through some key, items to get your direction on for the development of the FY '20 '6 budget," Falcon said. Commissioners present were Eberline, Duncan and Metari.

On personnel, the board confirmed the approach used in recent years: if the board funds anniversary-step increases, steps will be applied on each employee's anniversary date rather than by submitting individual step requests. Departments must route personnel requests through Human Resources before those requests are added to budgets; exceptions identified included overtime, on-call pay, bonuses, service awards and requests to add a position that…