Calhoun County officials present 2026 budget with $63.3M in revenues; commissioners open public hearing

Administrator/Controller Kelly Scott presented Calhoun County's recommended 2026 budget during the Board of Commissioners meeting on Nov. 20, 2025, saying the general fund includes $63.3 million in revenues and $62.8 million in expenditures for the year.

Scott said the recommended budget would leave a modest budgeted contribution to fund balance of about $523,000 and projected an end-of-year general fund balance near $7.2 million, roughly 12% of prior-year expenditures, short of the board's updated target of 17%. She identified four major revenue drivers: property taxes (about half of general-fund revenues, including projected increases in taxable value), charges for services (including jail and public-safety contracts), state and local grants, and a one-time $1 million transfer from the delinquent tax revolving fund.

On the expenditure side, Scott highlighted personnel costs as the largest category (nearly 60% of general fund expenses), and the budget includes an average 2.75% pay increase and step increases. Notable costs for 2026 include a $400,000 contingency, an estimated $500,000 net increase in debt service tied to capital-improvement bonds issued in 2025, and planned capital work funded by those bonds.

Scott told commissioners the county faces persistent budget pressures: staffing and retention, variable jail-bed revenues that help offset operational costs, fringe benefits driven by health-insurance elections and defined-benefit plan participation, and reduced state reimbursements for commercial personal property (the county estimates budgeted reimbursement of about $120,000 while actual losses could exceed $2 million).

The administrator's presentation also outlined a large increase in road-fund revenues driven by a nearly 36% increase in Michigan Transportation Fund distributions for 2026 and flagged major road projects planned for 2027.

Public commenters at the hearing raised fiscal concerns. Linda Pell, a Compass Township resident, thanked staff for the budget work but urged contingency planning if the county loses jail contract revenues, including ICE detainee boarding contracts, which she said represent a significant portion of charges-for-service revenue. "What kind of contingency plans do we have in place if Calhoun County no longer has the contract coming in?" Pell asked.

Scott responded that the county maintains minimum guarantees on several jail contracts and includes conservative projections for jail revenue; she said the jail-bed revenue "is not profit" but helps offset housing and maintenance costs and that the county builds worst-case scenarios into its budgeting.

The board took questions from commissioners on fringe-benefit variances, which Scott explained are driven principally by whether employees elect employer-provided health insurance and by participation in the defined-benefit retirement plan versus 401(k) options.

The board opened the public hearing on the budget at the meeting and later closed it by motion; formal adoption of the budget remained scheduled for the board's upcoming adoption meeting.