Kootenai County holds FY2026 budget kickoff; assessor asks to correct tax-roll statements

Kootenai County commissioners on June 2 received a preliminary FY2026 budget overview from Finance Director Brandy Falcon and heard a public comment request from County Assessor Bayla Kovacs to amend an earlier statement about tax-roll errors.

Falcon said the materials presented were an initial “first look” rather than a package for final deliberations and laid out high-level revenue, expense and new-request figures that the board will use to balance the budget between now and its August adoption timeline. “We won't really be doing any deliberations today on cuts to the budget, but just giving you, a snapshot of overall where the budget stands,” Falcon said.

The preliminary summary shows multiple levy scenarios: at a 0% property-tax increase the county would need to cut about $1.2 million; at 1% cuts of about $651,000; at 2% cuts of about $31,000; and at a 3% increase a projected surplus of $589,000. Falcon counted a separate line, “levy for judgments,” of $299,330 tied to prior lawsuit-related shortfalls the county may recapture under state law. Falcon also presented revenue assumptions including a 1.28% increase in state revenue sharing (about $111,000), a 1.86% increase in sales…