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Carroll County executive committee approves reserve transfers and finalizes 2026 budget
Summary
The Carroll County Executive Committee approved several reserve transfers — including emergency repairs and equipment replacements — and revised the county's 2026 budget to include a previously omitted $944,802 nursing-home housekeeping line. The committee set a new capital reserve level and approved revenue and tax totals.
The Carroll County Executive Committee on March 17 approved multiple transfers from capital and reserve funds to cover employee payout liabilities, facility repairs and equipment replacements, and finalized the county's 2026 budget after adding a previously omitted $944,802 nursing-home housekeeping and laundry line.
Staff presented a request to transfer $98,263.84 from the accrued benefits liability (sick bank) to the general fund to cover termination payouts for vacation, sick and other earned accruals; Representative McAleer moved the transfer and Representative Budman seconded. The committee approved the motion.
Committee members also approved a $16,873.55 transfer from the Capital Improvement Reserve to repair a failed administration building HVAC unit and an elevator service and repair transfer for the Mountain View nursing home after staff described the problem as an emergency repair that exceeded routine maintenance amounts.
At the wastewater treatment plant, the committee approved emergency funding for a failed automatic transfer switch that prevented automatic generator transfer during outages and later approved a replacement of a failed auger and gearbox. During the auger discussion staff initially referenced $63,020.04 but later reconciled supporting quotes and stated a total of $62,020.04 for equipment and installation; the committee approved the request after reviewing quotes and warranty/invoice documentation would be provided to members on request.
A key development in the session was staff's disclosure that the nursing-home housekeeping budget (listed as $944,802) had not been included in the nursing-home grand total due to a spreadsheet error. Staff offered two corrective options: increase the use of unassigned fund balance to $3,592,281 (leaving the fund balance at the county's policy floor of 8 percent) to cover the additional $1.3 million in additions, or reduce transfers to capital reserve and defer the water-tank roof project to 2027 to free approximately the same amount. The committee discussed timing constraints for the water-tank roof (Underwood engineers signaled it would be difficult to finish this year) and the availability of a state water revolving fund pre-application due June 2. Members ultimately adjusted transfers and capital-outlay lines so the nursing-home housekeeping and laundry line was included in the Mountain View bottom-line total.
After roll-call votes the committee set the capital reserve account at $207,719, revised the 4900 capital outlay line to $1,177,919 (reducing it by $800,000), approved the Mountain View nursing-home bottom line including the $944,802 housekeeping and laundry item, and approved a grand total county budget of $45,987,025. The committee approved estimated revenues of $20,386,727 (including $3 million use of fund balance) and voted to raise and appropriate $25,602,298 in tax revenue for the residual. All recorded votes on the final budget motions passed on roll call.
The session closed with staff confirming the capital reserve balance after transfers at $132,865.67 and with the chair announcing the executive committee adjourned. Staff said supporting invoices and documentation would be circulated to members to record the approved emergency and capital transfers.
