Highway staff outline major equipment purchases and a roughly 14% levy increase request for 2026

Hubbard County highway staff presented the department—s preliminary 2026 budget in the board—s work session, emphasizing replacement of aging heavy equipment, shop upgrades and modest staffing adjustments.

The department said receipts considered in the highlights include the levy request, transit sales tax revenue, and reserve funds; state-aid projects were shown separately because they do not change the county levy calculation. Major planned disbursements are payroll, vehicles and heavy equipment (notably a loader and a motor grader), and building repairs such as a narrower, rusted shop hoist the department described as unsafe for large trucks.

Staff described the need to replace a loader originally purchased in the 1980s and noted modern machines include scale buckets and telemetric systems that track material usage and sales, which the county lacks on older equipment. They also proposed updating a tandem snow-plow truck, rotating pickup trucks to outlying shops to better match duties, and buying a movable heavy-message safety board that bolts to pickup headache racks to improve traffic control at work zones.

On fleet strategy, staff explained that leased, outfitted pickups lose value when returned to leasing companies; the department said it may buy out some near-term leases or hold vehicles longer before auction to capture more resale value. Staff reported equipment prices have jumped dramatically in recent years and suggested selecting quality used units for some items (motor graders, loaders) but not for vehicles where reliability is critical (snow-plow trucks).

Staff also proposed modest non‑staffing changes: purchasing a Trimble surveying unit, adding a small UTV for field staking and maintenance, and replacing a remote fuel card reader at a shared school/facility for roughly $10,000 (county share). The department said it will not fill an engineering tech II position in 2026 and instead seeks one summer internship or seasonal help due to high construction activity this year.

On the levy, staff said a $500,000 tax-apportionment increase equals about a 14% rise over last year. They reviewed longer trends and noted that if every department had kept only small annual increases the levy would look smaller now; instead, prior-year variances mean this year—s ask is larger. Commissioners and staff discussed using capital reserves, drawing additional sales-tax revenue, or staging equipment purchases to limit levy impact. Staff noted sales tax receipts have risen in recent years but collections lag by several months.

Staff listed planned construction projects for 2026 (bridge replacement, full-depth reclamation segments and a sales-tax-funded county road) and reiterated that many larger projects will be built with state aid or sales tax and thus are shown separately from the county-levy highlights.

Commissioners asked for an expanded 10‑year equipment replacement plan to accompany further budget discussions. Staff agreed to extend the department—s five-year plan to 10 years and said they will meet with other department heads to explore capital-fund uses and other offsets before the next budget review.

Ending: The presentation closed with commissioners thanking highway staff for a concise report and agreeing to review the proposed plan and capital options before final levy decisions.