Budget director outlines FY26 calendar, new ERP and $1.6B operating target

Budget Director Michael Thompson told the committee the FY26 budget will be developed in phases: an initial revenue-projection and departmental-input period (January–March), a consolidation and refinement phase (March–June) and adoption by June. He said the county is implementing a new ERP/plan-and-budget system that will go live July 1 and that the budget office will open FY26 inputs to departments in early February.

Thompson said the county is building a $1.6 billion operating budget and roughly $1 billion in capital-improvement requests. He emphasized revenue projections as the key constraint during reappraisal years: "When I think about the most important part of this budget, it's really understanding our revenues," he said. The budget office will coordinate closely with the assessor and trustee while working to present a sound proposed budget by April 30 and finalize consolidation through June.

Thompson acknowledged that the office is evaluating AI tools for internal use but said proprietary concerns limit deployment; he has outlined a budget curriculum to brief commissioners across nine budget subcommittee meetings. He also told commissioners the office has planned contingencies in case certified tax-rate timing from the state slips and that staff have prepared to input multiple digit precision for rates if needed.