For the second consecutive fiscal year, the Lincoln County budget is shaping up to be roughly $700,000 less than the previous year.

“Once again, some pretty good efforts have been made,” County Administrator Darren Coldwell told the Lincoln County commissioners Aug. 29 while presenting the preliminary 2018-2019 budget. “The departments have made a huge effort to decrease funding [requests].”

The proposed cuts amount to $672,013. Coldwell credited “outside the box” thinking for the significant drop, noting it happened despite challenges such as a four percent increase in health insurance rates and a .5 percent decrease in the valuation of a mill.

Coldwell said the cost of public safety remained both the county’s highest expenditure and a “continued concern.” Still, that budget request was $214,634 less than last year.

The preliminary budget was not the final version the commissioners would see and vote on Sept. 5, Coldwell said, but the “nuts and bolts look pretty good.”

The final budget will be presented 2 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5.