Lake County presents recommended fiscal 2026 budget with personnel increases folded into department lines

Lake County budget staff presented the recommended fiscal year 2026 budget during a joint Finance & Administrative and Public Works & Transportation committee meeting on Oct. 21, 2025.

Budget Manager Michael Wheeler said the book before the committees reflects policy guidance and department submissions and that county board approval is scheduled later in November. "I'll try to be brief and just kind of go over some of the highlights," Wheeler said as he introduced the document.

Wheeler told the committees this is the first year the compensation‑study increases are distributed into individual department budgets rather than held in contingency, a change that partly explains higher personnel and benefits lines in some departments. He said the recommended budget maintains the operating contribution to capital at a level that "nearly covers" facility‑maintenance requests and that departments submitted new program requests through a new peer‑review process in which department heads presented requests to their peers before county‑administrator recommendations were formed.

The staff overview included categorical budget guidance: board approval occurs at the account‑class level (personnel, commodities, contractuals and capital), not at the sub‑account line item levels such as regular salaries or overtime. Wheeler also summarized revenue sources and expense shares: property taxes were shown at about 28 percent of total revenue, other taxes 23 percent, intergovernmental revenue 14 percent and charges for services 13 percent; personnel and benefits represent about 42 percent of expenditures while capital comprises roughly 17 percent.

On pay and benefits, Wheeler said non‑union employees will receive a 3 percent lump‑sum amount in budgets, with an internal budget envelope limiting total adjustments, and that health‑insurance costs rose about 7.4 percent for the county’s HMO and PPO plans. Wheeler noted modest declines in IMRF and law‑enforcement pension costs but said health insurance increases required coverage in the recommended budget.

Wheeler also described an alternate budgeting scenario that would take the full allowable property‑tax growth; his presentation placed that additional revenue at approximately $2,660,000 and said the county administrator’s recommended book includes seven additional new program requests and some extra contingency under that scenario.

Committee members asked clarifying questions during the presentation. Member Maine asked for fuller context around some NPRs to ensure all committee members were "on the same page," and Member Roberts pressed staff for the basis of revenue assumptions. Wheeler and staff said departments had been consulted about revenue estimates and that the final property‑tax distribution would be set in a later property‑tax ordinance.

The recommended FY2026 budget presentation provided the committees with the data and policy framing that county board members will use to consider adoption in the November meetings.