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County staff previews budget tweaks: permissive medical levy, entitlement tiers and fairgrounds capital options
Summary
Staff presented a preliminary fiscal plan that adds $23.91 to the permissive medical levy line, proposes moving prisoner-care funding back into the sheriff's budget at a much lower level, reassigns entitlement dollars into tiers, and discussed fair improvements and financing options for a proposed building.
County staff walked commissioners through a preliminary budget spreadsheet and major policy choices for the coming fiscal year, highlighting an added permissive medical levy entry, entitlement-tier adjustments, changes to prisoner-care funding and a plan for fairgrounds improvements.
Staff (Speaker 3) said they added "$23.91, which is our permissive medical levy" and explained that even at a maxed permissive levy the county still faces a shortfall for health insurance funding; staff estimated the county needs about $329,000 to fully fund the health-insurance line and listed possible transfers and entitlement use as options. The staff presentation included salary and benefits figures for a state-shared position: a $64,786 state contribution broken into $50,940 salary, $8,925 employer contributions and $4,921 in insurance premiums.
On prisoner care, staff proposed moving the line back to the sheriff's office and reducing the previously budgeted $30,000 to $3,000 based on a five-year average and projections; commissioners agreed that $3,000 appeared sufficient under the five-year look-back but asked staff to monitor the line.
Staff outlined a new tiered approach to entitlement allocations, removing some special districts from entitlement distributions and placing high-priority services (road and public safety) higher in the tier structure. Staff said they will reassess entitlement placement annually to reflect grant funding and cash-available considerations.
The fairgrounds representative (Speaker 7) reviewed the fair budget and building plans: cash-on-hand for fair improvements was reported around $15,733 and a preliminary architecture report was estimated at roughly $40,000. The fair group discussed fundraising, grant opportunities and loan options; Stockman Bank was mentioned as willing to discuss financing with what could be a multi-year repayment schedule. The group discussed the potential total project cost and the possibility of combining grant/donation funding with a loan to cover a large project.
Commissioners and staff also discussed capital project timing and auditor expectations for spending in the fiscal year (purchase of materials vs. completed installation) and agreed to wait for final taxable values from the state before making final mill and levy adjustments. Staff said the budget spreadsheet used state forms and built-in formulas and will be finalized once the auditors and final state values are received.
The meeting ended with next steps: staff will finalize numbers after receiving taxable values, monitor grant and entitlement changes, and return to the commission with any required budget amendments.
