Livingston County adopts tentative $219 million 2026 budget; officials cite sales tax dependence and Medicaid pressure

The Livingston County Board of Supervisors voted to adopt the county’s fiscal year 2026 budget after a public hearing and a presentation by county staff. Ian Coyle, who presented the tentative spending plan, said the budget is ‘‘a large budget, $219,000,000 this year,’’ and described modest year‑to‑year changes alongside several structural pressures.

Coyle told supervisors the county finished prior years with a clean audit and a strong bond rating but faces limits tied to its taxable assessed value. He identified sales tax as the county’s largest revenue source and said quarterly draws have been flat recently. ‘‘Sales tax is the county’s largest individual revenue center,’’ Coyle said, and warned that sales tax performance will be a critical variable in future years.

The presentation highlighted several cost drivers that contribute to the need for additional revenue: local contributions to Medicaid (Coyle cited roughly $9.5 million as the county’s local Medicaid obligation), increased pension costs (an $11 million account that rose notably this year), health‑insurance cost increases for county employees, and the need to sustain recent compensation adjustments. Coyle singled out the county nursing home as a separate enterprise fund with near‑$40 million in operating activity and said federal support expected this year will help operations.

Coyle described the county’s fund balance policy as healthy and said reserves allow the county to cash‑fund certain capital projects and meet required federal matches. He also noted a state change expanding lodging tax collections on short‑term rentals and estimated a conservative new annual net revenue in the low‑hundreds of thousands from that source.

On taxes, Coyle said the tax levy is increasing (he cited a levy rise on the order of 4½ percent) and estimated a county tax rate of about $7.19 per $1,000 of assessed value; he recommended monitoring sales tax and considering policy options, including a possible override of the state tax cap, because mandated increases outside county control would otherwise push levy growth beyond the cap.

After the public hearing was closed, the board moved and adopted the 2026 budget by roll call. The meeting transcript records the motion and adoption; the meeting then moved on to related appropriations and implementation steps.

The board’s next procedural steps include finalizing the capital improvement plan and any additional reserve allocations and scheduling any necessary follow‑up reports required by departments. The budget may be refined administratively in the months ahead as actual revenues and grant awards are finalized.