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Benton County adopts 2025–26 budget, sets property tax rate at $1.7066; nonprofits receive $500,728
Summary
At a June 30 special session, the Benton County Commission adopted the 2025–26 appropriations resolution that includes a $13,045,682 general fund and school fund allocations; commissioners set the combined property tax rate at $1.7066 per $100 and approved $500,728 in nonprofit grants. An attempted amendment to raise a 3% employee COLA to 4% was ruled out of order and not voted on.
Benton County commissioners voted on June 30, 2025, to adopt the fiscal year 2025–26 appropriations resolution, set the county's property tax rate and approve a set of nonprofit grants during a special-called session at the Benton County Courthouse.
The commission approved Resolution No. 20250630-01, the county's annual appropriation ordinance, after a roll call vote. Commissioner Melton moved to adopt the resolution and Commissioner Miller seconded. The resolution lists detailed line-item appropriations, including a General Fund total of $13,045,682 and a General Purpose School Fund total of $29,316,061, along with capital projects, debt service and other fund allocations.
During consideration of the budget, Commissioner Presson sought to amend the proposal to raise the cost-of-living adjustment for county employees from 3% to 4% and asked that the amendment be considered. Chairman Rosanne Ward ruled the motion out of order and did not put it to a vote. Commissioner Presson asked that the record show the chair denied his motion to amend and denied his challenge to that ruling; the request was noted in the meeting minutes. The appropriation resolution passed on a roll call vote, 10 Ayes and 6 Nays. The six commissioners recorded as voting no were Bain, Presson, Fowler, Hall, Kiehn and Price; two members (Stephen Stokes and Frank Lashlee) were absent.
The commission also adopted Resolution No. 20250630-02, fixing the combined property tax rate for Benton County at $1.7066 per $100 of taxable property for the year beginning July 1, 2025. The resolution allocates the rate among funds: General (0.0213), General Purpose School (0.6053), General Debt Service (0.0252), Highway (0.0512) and General Capital Projects (0.0036), for a total of 1.7066. The motion to adopt the tax levy passed 16 Ayes, 0 Nays, with two members absent.
In a separate vote, the commission approved Resolution No. 20250630-03 to appropriate $500,728 to nonprofit charitable organizations that serve Benton County, including line items for rural fire protection, senior citizen services and community development partners. That resolution passed on a roll call vote, 16 Ayes, 0 Nays, with two absent.
The budget resolution includes statutory references for budget amendment procedures and borrowing authority, designates $3,000,000 in General Fund reserves related to proceeds from the sale of the hospital, and authorizes the county mayor and county clerk to borrow on revenue anticipation notes subject to state approval and statutory limits.
The commission adjourned after the votes. The meeting minutes reflect the motions, seconders and recorded roll-call tallies for each adopted resolution.
