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Campbell County staff present initial FY26 local revenue forecast; property taxes lead with $52M projection
Summary
Staff told the County Board that local revenues are projected at just over $77 million for the coming year, with general property taxes expected to bring in about $52 million; interest earnings drove recent actuals but staff cautioned against treating those as recurring revenue.
Campbell County staff gave the board an initial look at local revenue projections for the upcoming budget year, saying general property taxes are projected at just over $52 million and total local revenue at roughly $77 million. Mr. Rogers, presenting the figures, told the board this is an early, informational step in the budget process and that the county will continue to refine numbers as audit figures and year-to-date receipts arrive.
The presentation broke local revenue into standard categories: real estate and personal property taxes (the largest share), sales and meals taxes, charges for services (notably EMS billing), interest earnings, fines and forfeitures, permits and miscellaneous receipts. Mr. Rogers said real estate alone accounts for about $26 million of the property-tax total and noted the personal-property figure discussed in the packet was unclear on the record.
Staff also warned that recent unusually high interest earnings — which produced millions more than budgeted in the most recent year — should not be treated as an ongoing revenue source. "We have been very reluctant... we don't want to rely on that as an ongoing revenue and get dependent on it," Mr. Rogers said, adding staff modeled more conservative interest assumptions in the FY26 projection.
On other lines, Mr. Rogers said sales-tax growth has driven recent revenue gains but that staff expect sales tax to level off; meals-tax revenues are currently routed to the county's debt-service fund under existing practice and generate just under $300,000. He also flagged an ongoing recovery of EMS billing after a disruption to third-party billing systems caused claims processing delays; staff moved vendors and older claims are being processed.
The presentation concluded with two points staff asked the board to consider early: whether to treat the projected $200,000 meals-tax increase as available for operations (staff noted it is currently assigned to debt service), and whether to change the personal-property assessment ratio (see separate article). Mr. Rogers said audited FY24 figures, received the previous Sunday, will be incorporated into future iterations of the forecast.
The board did not take formal action at the meeting; staff said they will return with refined numbers and scenario runs after incorporating audit data and direction from the board.
