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San Juan County posts Q1 finances, sets May 26 public hearing on first 2026 budget amendment
Summary
Council received a first-quarter financial review showing county receipts of about $18.1 million and higher-than-expected Q1 expenditures in the current expense fund; the council set a May 26 public hearing to consider three budget ordinances including beginning cash adjustments, emergency appropriations and supplemental revenue changes.
San Juan County officials presented the county's first-quarter 2026 financial report and set a public hearing for May 26 to consider three ordinances amending the 2026 budget.
Dr. Molly Foote, budget analyst in the auditor's office, told the council the county had received about $18.1 million in revenues through March, roughly 21% of its budgeted annual revenues, and had spent about $17.5 million across all funds. She said the county remains a cash-basis entity and uses fund accounting to segregate resources and allowable uses.
Foote highlighted that miscellaneous revenues and intergovernmental receipts, along with property and sales taxes, are the largest revenue sources so far. She said a roughly $2 million donation accounted for a large portion of the conservation-area fund's inflow and that a FEMA reimbursement had materially increased some capital-project receipts.
At the fund level, Foote said the current expense fund had received about $5.5 million and spent about $8.1 million, putting its cash balance at roughly $6.3 million after Q1. "We are a quarter through the year and some timing differences — for example, front-loaded insurance and some operating transfers that occurred earlier this year — are driving the higher expense percentage," Foote said. Council members asked staff to provide a follow-up breakdown identifying the main drivers behind the 26.9% spending rate in the current expense fund.
On revenues, Foote warned that timing affects projections: property taxes are concentrated in Q2 and Q4, sales tax receipts were tracking slightly ahead of expectations and interest income is running well above last year's Q1 share. Planning and permitting receipts were weaker than the usual Q1 share, she said, lowering that revenue line's projected year-end share.
Foote also walked the council through proposed changes in a first 2026 budget amendment: (1) an ordinance to revise beginning cash balances using final 2025 actuals (collective revenue and expenditures adjustments of about $3.3 million), (2) emergency appropriations totaling several departmental requests (including housing loan and housing award appropriations, accounting corrections, a $72,000 dispatch radio console carry-forward, and capital project carry-forwards), and (3) a supplemental revenue appropriation (notably about $30,000 from the Department of Commerce for rental subsidies).
Councilmember (S7) moved — and the council seconded — to set a public hearing on May 26, 2026 at 9:15 a.m. to consider the three budget ordinances. The motion passed by voice vote.
What happens next: staff will publish the draft ordinances and the council will hold the public hearing on May 26. Foote will return with Q2 figures in July and further budget amendment work this year as needed.
