Washington County forecasts $7.2M general-fund gap next year as SIP transfers decline

Washington County's budget team told commissioners on Nov. 6 that an unusually large increase in assessed value this year masks a near-term revenue challenge: fee-based transfers from Strategic Investment Program (SIP) contracts are falling, and the county projects a $7.2 million general-fund gap for fiscal year 2026—27.

"The real market value increased from 197,000,000,000 last year to over 207,000,000,000 this year. That's a 5.24% increase," Joe Nelson, director of Assessment, Taxation, Records & Elections, told the Board. "The assessed value went from 86,000,000,000 to 96,000,000,000. That's 11.31% increase. In my history, I've never seen that before. This is an anomaly year." Nelson and budget staff attributed the anomaly to the expiration/roll-off of SIP contracts (notably earlier Intel agreements) and the coming online of large data centers.

John Steyer and county budget staff translated Nelson's numbers into budget impacts: total tax dollars across the county rose from about $1.559 billion to $1.742 billion (an $183 million increase), but Washington County's general-fund SIP allocation declined from $60 million last year to $41 million this year, a roughly $19 million negative swing for county cash flow. On the county side, property-tax distributions to the county entity increased from about $189 million to $210 million (+$20 million), but the net near-term effect on county general fund resources is smaller because of the SIP reduction.

"At the end of the day, the budget gap we're projecting is $7,000,000 and that's about 3% of our expenditures," Steyer said. He and staff told the board the $7.2 million figure is the lowest projected general-fund gap in the past five years but that a five-year forecast shows the gap expanding (to approximately $15.6 million in a subsequent year) if no policy changes are made.

Key figures and mechanics

- Real market value (countywide): ~$197 billion -> ~$207 billion (+5.24%). - Assessed value (countywide):…