COEUR d’ALENE — Kootenai County commissioners took a first look Monday at the proposed budget for fiscal year 2026. 

Total expenditures, including all requests and proposals from county government, come to about $145 million. Commissioners will iron out the budget, including any cuts, during six deliberation meetings between now and July 23. 

A preliminary balanced budget will be presented July 31 and a public hearing is scheduled for Aug. 27. Commissioners are expected to adopt a final budget Aug. 29. 

If commissioners levy 3% more property taxes, the maximum possible amount, they’ll have a surplus of about $589,000. With no tax increase, commissioners will need to cut $1.2 million from the budget in order to balance it. 

Personnel costs are expected to make up the vast majority of the county’s budget. Current personnel costs total $91 million, a figure that includes the cost of taxes and employee health insurance. 

Step increases for eligible employees on their anniversary date will cost an additional $745,000. Employees see a pay increase between 2% and 5% when they go up a step. A total of 174 county employees have reached the top of their pay matrix and are not eligible for more step increases. 

County departments have made requests for 29 new positions, which would cost about $2.5 million to fund and about $610,000 for employee onboarding. 

Requested changes to 52 existing positions would save the county about $177,000. 

“It’s a little bit unique that it’s a savings, but we have a fair number of requests that have to do with freezing or reducing positions,” said county finance director Brandi Falcon. 

Commissioners have not asked finance staff to calculate the impact of a cost of living adjustment for county employees. The budget for fiscal year 2025 included a 2% cost of living adjustment, totaling $1.7 million across county employees. 

New operating expense requests total $2 million over the current fiscal year’s budget, including a $1.3 million increase for the county jail’s medical contract. 

“The jail medical contract has been kind of volatile and a very expensive item in the budget,” Falcon told commissioners. “That’s something that I think we want to pay attention to and make sure we have the appropriate funding in place for FY26.” 

New capital requests total $12.3 million. This includes $5.7 million for general government and $6.6 million for the Solid Waste Department. 

The proposed budget includes a 5% increase to Community Development fees, as well as a $2 increase for the title administrative fee at the Department of Motor Vehicles. The budget also accounts for an increase to recording fees, totaling about $15,000.