Kootenai County keeps three-month emergency reserve, directs staff to draft FY26 fund-balance resolution

Kootenai County commissioners on March 19, 2026 instructed staff to keep the county’s emergency reserve at three months and to prepare a resolution formalizing FY26 assigned fund-balance decisions, while asking for a fuller briefing on 911 revenue and infrastructure needs.

Brandy Falcon of the auditor’s office told the board that "assigned fund balance is the surplus in the general fund that is left over after the board has set aside a dollar amount for the emergency reserves for the county," and walked commissioners through multi-year figures showing assigned balances rose from $14.39 million in fiscal 2018 to about $33 million in fiscal 2025. Falcon said the county returned about $13 million to fund balance in FY24 and roughly $5.9 million between fund 10 and fund 15 in FY25.

Falcon said calculating a three-month emergency reserve under the new measurement would set that reserve at about $28.2 million and leave approximately $4.4 million in surplus before accounting for lines she had prefilled. After proposed adjustments — increasing the health insurance assignment from $3 million to $4 million, reducing a rarely used grant-match line to zero unless the board directs otherwise, and retaining a $1 million capital-purchases contingency — Falcon said the remaining amount available to assign would be roughly $2.577 million, which she recommended placing into the facilities master plan line.

Commissioners voiced support for keeping a three-month reserve and for placing remaining surplus into the master plan as a prudent holding place while larger projects are evaluated. Commissioners and Falcon repeatedly raised the county’s shortfall in preparing for 911 infrastructure and software costs: Falcon said the county has been "giving over a million dollars of our 911 money that we get from the state of Idaho" to the city of Post Falls because that city also takes some 911 calls, and that after local expenditures the county is currently netting about $700,000–$800,000 per year rather than the roughly $1 million per year that would be needed to sustain a multi-million-dollar refresh cycle.

The board discussed options for covering an estimated $5 million need for 911 software and infrastructure upgrades and emphasized they want a fuller presentation before committing assigned fund balance to 911: commissioners asked staff to coordinate with the sheriff’s office and Lieutenant Howard to present the statute governing 911 funds, the county’s 911 revenue flows, an accounting of amounts shared with Post Falls, and how many dispatch seats and technology upgrades would be needed to justify a multi-million-dollar expenditure.

On the narrower budget decisions the board reached consensus to keep the three-month emergency reserve, increase the health insurance assignment to $4 million, reduce the grant-match line to zero, and place the remaining approximately $2.577 million into the facilities master plan. Falcon said she would compile those assignments into a resolution and return it for formal board approval at a subsequent meeting. With no public comment, the meeting adjourned at about 11:25 a.m.

Next steps: staff will prepare the FY26 assigned fund-balance resolution for a future meeting and schedule a presentation on 911 revenues and infrastructure needs.