Davis County adopts budget amendment, trims about $1.9 million from general fund shortfall

Davis County commissioners on Feb. 5 approved a resolution to amend the county's 2026 capital and operating budgets, moving to reduce a multi‑million‑dollar shortfall by roughly $1.9 million while preserving previously appropriated project rollovers.

Controller Scott Park told the commission the county began the year with “a big deficit, a $12,000,000 budgetary deficit,” and said truth‑in‑taxation actions earlier in the year raised an additional $6,000,000 to cut that gap in half. Park said the controller's office and department leaders then identified further savings and that the budget amendment before the board represents the first of a three‑step plan to balance ongoing revenues and expenses by the end of the year.

“You have before you…budget amendments,” Park told commissioners, describing the first step as departmental line‑by‑line reductions that “reduced the operating deficit of the general fund by nearly $2,000,000.” He said the county is working with human resources on an early retirement/buyout option as a second step and will finalize further reductions during the 2027 budget process as the third step.

Park also said a second page of the amendment covers rollover appropriations from projects approved in 2025 that were not finished last year. Those rollovers — for building improvements, road projects and contracts already signed — do not represent new ongoing expenditures, he said, and would allow departments to finish contracted work in early 2026.

Commissioner Lorraine Kamalu moved to close the public hearing and approve the amendment (identified in discussion as Resolution 2026‑8). Chair John Crops seconded the motion; the commissioners present voted in favor to adopt the resolution.

Votes at a glance - Resolution 2026‑8 (amend 2026 capital and operating budgets): adopted (motion by Commissioner Lorraine Kamalu; second by Chair John Crops). - Department of Health items (items 3–6): approved (included a $700 donation from the Bountiful Police Department Employees Association to Aging Services; a $4,000 amendment for a diabetes intervention education contract with the Utah Department of Health and Human Services; a $14,449 immunization amendment tied to federal measles response funds; and a no‑fee room rental agreement with Davis Technical College for the Feb. 5, 2027 Resilience Symposium). - Library grant (item 7): approved (a $32,077 federal/state pass‑through grant for libraries). Library Director Josh Johnson said the funding “we thought would dry up” appears to be continuing and that another similar grant should arrive soon. - Consent item 8 (agreement with Prime Time Sports for basketball tournaments): approved. - Board of Equalization register: approved (Scott Park reported 17 appeals with no value change and 11 corrections totaling $17,000).

What this means The amendment approved on Feb. 5 signifies an early step in the county’s effort to close a budget gap that Park characterized as starting at $12 million. The actions taken on departmental reductions and the decision to preserve approved but unfinished 2025 projects leave the county positioned to pursue personnel cost savings (through retirement/buyout offers) and further budget work during the 2027 budgeting cycle.

Procedural notes and next steps - Park said the rollover items are for work already under contract and are not new ongoing costs; departments requested the funds be carried into 2026 to complete projects. - The controller's office will continue implementing the three‑step plan; Park indicated the county will return to finalize remaining adjustments as part of the 2027 budget process.

The commission adjourned at 10:14 a.m.; Commissioner Bob Stevenson announced a March 5 town hall in Farmington on county government and history and warned residents to plan for an incoming storm.