Cumberland County adopts $290.1M 2026 budget, sets millage at 2.875 after tense debate

Cumberland County commissioners on Tuesday approved the county's 2026 budget and separately set the real-estate tax millage at 2.875, adopting a spending plan that relies on a $6,000,000 draw from reserve funds.

Finance staff presented the proposed budget (Resolution 2025-25) with total county revenue of $270,800,000 and county expenses of $290,100,000; general fund revenue was shown as $109,900,000 against general fund expenses of $126,700,000. County staff and commissioners repeatedly emphasized the goal of reducing the reserve draw in future years.

The board moved and adopted the budget. The vote recorded one opposition: Commissioner Eichelberger opposed the adoption; the other commissioners supported it. The millage resolution was approved separately at 2.875, which the board said was unchanged from 2025 after staff clarified a discrepancy where a draft line showed 2.625.

The adoption prompted an extended and sometimes heated exchange among board members and participants about the process of offering alternatives to budget proposals and whether a member who votes no should present a competing plan. One participant denied an assertion about legal limits on cutting expenditures, saying, "That is absolutely false." Commissioners and staff also discussed state-mandated service costs, 9-1-1 funding pressures, and efforts to find savings across departments.

Finance director Carrie Pinkerbeiter and her team led the budget walkthrough and answered commissioners' questions. Commissioners praised staff work while signaling concerns about ongoing structural imbalances between revenues and expenses and the need for continued interdepartmental efforts to reduce the reliance on reserves.

The board took the most recent formal step in the county's annual budget cycle; no additional procedural dates were specified during the meeting.