Superintendent’s 2026–27 budget review postponed after county finds unaccounted-for school levy

The Lincoln County chair recessed the May 18 budget review with the superintendent of schools after officials discovered the wrong budget sheet in the packet and identified an unaccounted-for district levy.

The superintendent of schools told the county that attendees had a copy of her proposed 2026–27 budget but that some line items—most notably postage and printing—looked higher than expected. “A lot of homeschool stuff,” the superintendent said of postage, and she explained that printing costs included trophies and materials for the spelling bee.

Committee members pressed the superintendent about an irregular contract/services line (line 3334) that fluctuated markedly across recent drafts. “This one really fluctuates,” one member said, citing examples raised during the meeting. The superintendent said she would check with the finance office and a staff member named Wendy because she did not have full access to the county’s finance system (referred to in the meeting as Black Mountain).

Shortly after discussion turned to coding and header errors—members noted the top of the packet appeared coded to elections—the chair recessed the session to obtain the correct budget sheet and said the superintendent’s budget review would be rescheduled once finance staff could provide the proper document. “We’re going to get the new sheet and reschedule the superintendent of schools’ budget meeting to another date,” the chair said.

After the recess, the superintendent raised a second concern: the YACC School had reportedly levied a 7.63‑mill technology levy for five years for a total of $9,366.37 that had not been included in the budget materials presented to the county. The superintendent said county staff and the district clerk had not been notified of the levy before that morning. “This is the first I’ve heard of it,” she said.

A committee member described the measure as a permissive levy and said the group would need to review paperwork and ballot language to determine whether county processes had been followed. Officials noted a discrepancy between the mill totals the county had (reported in the meeting as 45.90) and the school’s reported total (53.53)—a difference equal to the 7.63 mills the superintendent flagged.

The superintendent said she would attend the YACC School board meeting Wednesday to follow up and would seek documentation to explain how the levy was adopted; the superintendent also reported that the school listed eight students, up from a typical three. County officials asked the superintendent to provide any paperwork she could find and to circulate corrected budget sheets once wages and employee contributions were added.

No formal vote was taken on the superintendent’s budget at the May 18 meeting; the chair recessed the session and planned to reschedule the review after staff provided correct documents and clarifications.

What’s next: county staff said they will check election records and budget paperwork to determine whether the levy was properly recorded or approved, and the superintendent plans to report back after attending the local school board meeting.