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Kootenai County continues FY26 budget deliberations as staff outlines COLA and tax scenarios
Summary
County budget staff presented FY26 revenue and expenditure scenarios, removed City of Hayden revenue from the baseline and showed how different COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) choices affect the county's balanced position; commissioners set a tentative direction and scheduled further deliberations.
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho ' At a July 11 meeting, the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners heard a staff summary of preliminary FY26 budget figures, including alternative cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) scenarios and a temporary removal of expected revenue from the City of Hayden while negotiations continue.
Budget staff member Brandy Falcon told the board the packet the commissioners received was a conservative version that excludes any revenue from a proposed Hayden law-enforcement contract. "For now, just to be on the safe side and conservative, I've removed Hayden revenues from the budget," Falcon said. She added that the county had proposed charging Hayden $1,812,893 for personnel costs (8 deputies, a lieutenant and an average detective) plus a 40% overhead markup; the FY25 contract had been $1,144,000.
Falcon also laid out how the county's fiscal position changes under various COLA and tax scenarios. Using the packet presented to commissioners and excluding Hayden revenue, the county would show a $396,000 surplus at a 3% tax increase with no COLA. Introducing a 1% COLA with a 3% tax increase would shift the position to a $296,000 deficit; a 1.5% COLA would be a $645,000 deficit; 2% would be a $992,000 deficit; and 2.5% would produce a roughly $1.3 million deficit.
Why it matters: the board must decide a combination of property tax change and employee COLA before adopting a final budget. Those decisions affect county services, hiring and midyear requests.
Commissioners discussed targets for the package. One commissioner said she was leaning toward a tax increase between 1% and 2% and a COLA in the 1% to 2% range; another urged further cuts to reach the board's preferred COLA outcome. Falcon said she expects updated information from the City of Hayden and from the county's benefits broker regarding health-premium rates before the board's final deliberations.
The board scheduled additional budget deliberations, with a final budget meeting set for July 23. Falcon told the board she would provide updated health-premium projections as soon as they are available and would notify the board when Hayden returns a revenue figure. "As soon as I hear back from the city of Hayden, I'll let the board know," Falcon said.
Ending: Commissioners did not take formal votes on the overall tax or COLA at the July 11 session; they left multiple departmental requests and several line-item adjustments for further discussion at the July 23 meeting.
