Crawford County supervisors review 2026 budgets amid salary and insurance pressure
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Summary
Supervisors examined department budget requests for fiscal 2026, with treasurer Sherry projecting conservative revenues after state changes to a driver license kiosk and departments flagging large insurance and salary increases. The board pressed for clarifications and possible reserve use before finalizing levy decisions.
Crawford County supervisors spent the session poring over department budgets, focusing on staff pay, health insurance costs and capital projects that could affect next year's property tax levy.
Sherry, who presented the county revenue estimates, said the state's new driver-license kiosk and check-in process has changed how a small convenience fee appears in county reports. "We're not getting rid of that fee," she said, explaining the $2,200 convenience fee will be collected through the state and no longer show up in the county's Tyler reporting even though the county still receives the funds.
The treasurer said she had deliberately projected revenues on the conservative side because of those reporting changes and other unknowns. Board members pressed her on the timing of receipts — noting several line items (tax-sale advertising and certification fees) that typically arrive in the second half of the fiscal year — and asked whether reserves could smooth short-term gaps.
Salary and insurance increases were the largest drivers of budget growth. Sherry noted she applied the wage-comp board recommendation for elected officials and adjusted staff-percentage increases to limit taxpayer impact. Supervisors debated whether to award a flat $12,000 increase to elected offices and leave department heads discretion to distribute pay raises, with some expressing concern about locking in higher base salaries for future boards.
Secondary roads officials outlined material and equipment plans that account for much of the department's spending: steel for bridges (roughly $180,000), lumber forecasts (about $100,000), and a phased $400,000 building expenditure. The roads director also warned about increasing costs for culvert and large-diameter pipe replacements as heavier axle loads become more common, and proposed a mix of buying new equipment and sourcing used beams to restrain spending.
IT and software costs drew questions as well. Ryan, the county's IT lead, laid out Tyler support charges (about $115,000 annually across treasurer and receipt-printer support lines), firewall and server replacement needs, and planned security upgrades including MFA. Ryan said some server costs could be virtualized under the county IT environment to reduce one-time capital expenses and to keep court data segregated.
County Attorney remarks emphasized unpredictably high court-related costs, including occasional guardian ad litem and special-prosecutor bills. The attorney asked the board to consider subscription and cloud service funding for a case-management platform (PBK) and to allow more flexibility for variable legal expenses.
Before adjourning, supervisors asked department heads to return with clarifications on several line items (including an apparent collections-line typo), requests for dollar-per-mile comparisons for in-house versus contractor road work, and granular inventories that would support reserve and levy decisions. A motion to adjourn carried by voice vote.
