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Appropriations committee opens 2026 budget, flags $13.5M in new spending mostly for roads and COG awards
Summary
The Cache County Appropriations Committee reviewed 74 budget amendments totaling about $13.5 million across funds — largely road projects — and discussed reappropriation practices, ARPA shortfalls and large COG awards; members pressed departments for stronger justifications and slower rollovers before sending most items to the full council.
The Cache County Appropriations Committee on April 23 reviewed a budget opening that contains roughly $13.5 million in proposed new spending across county funds, driven largely by road projects and Community of Governments (COG) awards.
Matthew Funk, county auditor, told the committee the package includes 74 items and that more than half — approximately $9 million to $10 million — is for roads and capital projects. He said some requests are new appropriations while a large block of later items are reappropriations of purchase orders that were approved in prior years but not yet spent.
The committee focused on several key areas: large road capital requests (items 10–12), a grouping of PO rollovers largely tied to the fairgrounds (items 51–65), and COG-related awards that account for an estimated $8 million of the package. Funk said the general-fund portion of this opening is relatively modest (about $400,000), and that other funds and awards supply much of the overall amount.
Members repeatedly asked departments to justify recurring reapprovals. Nolan Dell, newly elected chair of the committee, pushed for greater follow-through on prior appropriations and for clearer procurement timing: "If you ask for the dollars, I'm going to be looking to see that this company spent it quicker," Dell said, urging staff to examine why some purchase orders remain unspent year-to-year.
The committee also discussed ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) allocations. Britney Kingston, finance, and Funk said the county will likely receive far less ARPA-eligible revenue than anticipated when the annual budget was prepared — staff revised their estimate from over $4 million of expected availability to about $2.1–2.5 million — and recommended re-scoping ARPA-funded projects accordingly.
Members questioned specific capital items, including multiple requests for backup generators at county facilities. Several members urged staff to explore lower-cost or mobile solutions and to require clearer emergency-designation justifications for sites seeking large fixed-generator purchases.
For the large block of fairgrounds PO rollovers, committee members signaled frustration with slow project execution and asked for a conversation with the public-works manager to ensure appropriations are matched to active procurement and realistic delivery timelines.
Outcome: The committee tabled no broad package-wide action during the meeting but agreed to send the reviewed amendments (with two items held for further information) on to the full County Council for final action and requested additional follow-up on reappropriations, generator justifications and ARPA adjustments.
The committee plans routine quarterly Appropriations meetings to continue oversight as the council moves through the 2026 budget cycle.
