Park County workshop flags detention, mental-health bills and PILT as pressures on FY2026 budget

Park County finance staff presented proposed figures for fiscal year 2026 at a commissioners’ budget workshop on Aug. 13, warning that higher-than-expected detention and mental-health costs, a recent sheriff-retirement contribution change and weaker tax collections have strained reserves and could require a budget amendment.

Erica, the county’s finance staff member who led the presentation, said the county will likely need a budget amendment for PILT (payments in lieu of taxes) this year because several funds had cash shortfalls. “We are gonna need a budget amendment for PILT this year because we do have a cash balance in a couple of areas,” she said, summarizing charts that compared budget-to-actual for FY25 and the proposed FY26 numbers.

Why it matters: the county must end each fund year with nonnegative cash balances. Erica said the county budgeted a reserve of about $2.1 million but actual reserves stood near $1.8 million, and several large, unanticipated expenses have narrowed that margin.

Key cost drivers and timing Erica outlined multiple factors pushing expenditures above expectations: medical and dental services for inmates and juvenile detention placements ran far above prior averages, and state mental-health hospital bills that arrived late were added to the county’s charges. She estimated juvenile detention costs had spiked to roughly $150,000 this year, the highest level she’d seen in recent years.

Erica also described a legislative change to sheriff-retirement contributions enacted in May that she said raised the county’s prior-year obligation by an estimated $17,000 and will increase future contribution rates. The combination of detention, retirement and mental-health bills, she said, has been “a tough year.”

Revenues and PILT Erica reported tax collections ran lower than typical this year (about 96% collected), which shifted some revenue into July and left a shortfall — including roughly $15,000 on the permissive medical levy. She described the two main choices for covering shortfalls as shifting levy dollars or using PILT distributions and noted she had modeled both approaches in the budget worksheets provided to commissioners.

COLA and staffing costs Commissioners discussed cost-of-living adjustments for employees. Commissioners and Erica reviewed scenarios at 1%, 2% and 3%; Erica said roughly $70,000 of county-wide payroll equates to 1% and a 2% across-the-board increase including benefits would cost about $160,000. Commissioners noted statutory revenue caps that limit how much the county can raise (approximately 2.1% in the current model), creating tension between preserving reserves and maintaining competitive pay.

Capital balances, ARPA and audit changes The finance presentation also showed capital balances where projected expenditures could exceed revenues by about $1.3 million; Erica said some of that is timing related to ARPA-funded projects and warned that federal spending deadlines could require obligations before year-end. Separately, she said the county’s auditors are now requiring payroll accruals for year-end reporting, which changes how beginning and ending fund balances appear because pay periods that straddle fiscal years must be accrued to the proper period.

Next steps Erica said the proposed budget will be published for public review (she expects publication on Aug. 27) and that the county needs finalized numbers by Sept. 4 (the county deadline). The proposed budget can still change after public comment; commissioners did not take formal votes on any budget items at the workshop.

The meeting adjourned by motion after a short public-comment period.