Geary County staff report $2.7 million available for projects; $423,185 in CIP requests presented

A staff member for Geary County told officials during the meeting that about $2.7 million is available for projects after set-asides and that staff had submitted $423,185 in capital improvement program (CIP) requests for consideration.

The staff member said the year began with roughly $3.7 million but that CIP reserves, road repairs, ambulance (EMS) reserves and election reserves reduce the amount available for new projects to about $2.7 million. "We are not transferring anything in in 2026. And so these funds... will need to sustain us all through 2026," the staff member said.

The update noted that the county's CIP budget authority is $6.5 million and that long-term capital project funds are not legally required to be liquidated on a set schedule; the constraint is available cash and policy priorities. Staff also reported that 2026 capital requests being considered total about $970,000, meaning officials must prioritize new projects or identify additional revenue if they expect to fund all requests.

Project requests presented to officials included a proposed heavy-duty truck replacement for public works, a grant match request tied to an item referred to in the materials as the "SS Florida grama match/placement assessment," and a sheriff's office camera system. Staff said some grant opportunities require a local match and that those match dollars are part of the new items brought forward.

Staff described the sheriff's camera system on the agenda but said the sheriff later obtained grant dollars that reduced the department's request; $31,000 originally requested for a related item was returned to the available funds because of that grant. The staff member said the items in front of commissioners for consideration totaled $423,185 and that staff would return at a future work session if the commission wanted formal approval of the sheriff's camera system this quarter.

On the trade-off between funding and taxes, the staff member said that if the county does not want to raise taxes it will need to limit which projects it funds: "If you're not willing to increase taxes, then you have to determine what you want to fund," the staff member said. The presentation included a reminder that interest and other recurring revenues will contribute through 2026 but that no additional internal transfers are planned for that year.

The discussion included questions from elected officials and reference to further detail from department heads on specific items. Staff said Jeremy (named in the meeting materials) would provide more background on the grant-match items and the placement assessment at a later point in the work session.

Next steps: staff will return with additional detail on specific grant-match requests and the sheriff's camera system before any formal approval; the county must decide whether to prioritize projects within the available $2.7 million or identify new revenue sources for 2026.