Commissioners told the public that state adjustments to the county's budget have created sizable shortfalls that will affect multiple departments, especially the highway fund. The treasurer presented DLGF-adjusted figures showing cuts to election and registration ($33,536), the highway fund (about $599,753) and the capital fund ($120,122), and reported the state-approved total county budget at roughly $21,386,165 compared with the prior year’s roughly $23 million.

Why it matters: Commissioners said the highway department entered 2026 facing a multi-hundred-thousand-dollar operating gap after inheriting past deficits and recent state cuts. One commissioner told residents the county’s $3.4 million highway budget cannot restore extensive pavement decline and asked the county council to consider supplemental appropriations at its Monday meeting.

The commissioners described technical reasons for some withheld state CCMG (county bridge/mill & overlay) funds, including mismatches between the county’s road-mapping and the state’s mapping system. Staff said a mapping correction and reapplication process is underway and that the state representative who administers CCMG had committed to help the county resolve mapping errors so future applications will be eligible.

Commissioners also reported frustration with federal disaster reimbursements: one commissioner said the county has seen no FEMA reimbursements yet and summarized the problem bluntly: “We have seen $0.” That lack of reimbursement, they said, compounds local budget pressures as counties sometimes front repair costs to be reimbursed later.

What the board expects next: The treasurer will supply monthly reports flagging funds at risk and will ask the council to create a budget-review committee. Commissioners said they will attend the council meeting on Monday to request targeted supplemental funding for critical shortfalls, and they urged residents to follow the council docket.

Quotations and attributions are limited to speakers identified in the meeting record and staff reports; the figures above are drawn from the treasurer’s packet and the commissioners’ statements during the Jan. 2 meeting. The council is scheduled to discuss budget options at its next meeting.