COEUR d'ALENE — In a split vote, Kootenai County commissioners voted Wednesday night to approve the county's fiscal year 2027 budget, which includes levying 3% more taxes.

The board voted 2-1 in favor of the $146 million budget, with Commissioner Leslie Duncan casting the dissenting vote. 

During deliberations, Duncan said she'd like to shave half a percent off the property tax increase by reducing the funds earmarked for a new enterprise resource planning system from $536,000 to $212,000. 

"We're not going to spend all that money in one year," she said. "I think it's overtaxing citizens." 

Commissioner Bruce Mattare expressed dismay when Duncan voted against approving the budget, though he said he "reluctantly" agreed with the budget himself. He noted that the board spent months hammering out a balanced budget and that all three commissioners had to compromise on different elements. 

"I was hoping you would join us today on this and agree with this," he said. "If you look at the last seven years of these budgets, four out of seven times, you've voted no. I don't understand that. As a board, we work together on this." 

The county's general government budget is $110 million. This figure doesn't include the $24 million budget for Solid Waste, which is self-funded through user fees and fund balance, rather than through tax dollars. 

Personnel costs make up the bulk of the county's budget, about $93 million. This includes about $739,000 budgeted for step increases on employee anniversaries. Elected officials cut about $1.6 million budgeted for unfilled positions and commissioners approved about $512,000 in requests for new positions. 

During the public comment period, Solid Waste employees implored commissioners to include a cost of living adjustment in the county's budget. They said that while the county provides good benefits, wages for Solid Waste employees have lagged behind the rising costs of housing, food and other essentials. 

"The county risks losing experienced employees when wages don't keep up with cost of living," said Jeff Brady. "Retention is less expensive than replacement."  

Commissioners approved a 2% cost of living increase for county employees for fiscal year 2025 and a 2.5% increase for fiscal year 2026. No such increase was included in the 2027 budget. 

The Kootenai County Sheriff's Office has the largest budget of all county departments at $52 million. That includes a $1.3 million increase to the jail overtime budget, a figure that county officials said is more reflective of the jail's actual overtime costs. 

Finance Director Brandi Falcon said one of the biggest impacts on this budget cycle was a 16.5% increase to the county's health insurance costs. 

"To have our health insurance increase $2.5 million is significant for us," she said. 

The county absorbed some of those costs by increasing employee contributions by $737,000. This brought the county's share of the increase to $1.8 million. 

The county's revenue includes $67.7 million in property tax. Falcon said that 73% of property tax funds go to the Justice Fund, which pays for services such as the jail, adult and juvenile probation, animal control, search and rescue and county prosecution. Another 13% of property tax funds go to First District Court. 

"Public safety and justice services get the bulk of our property tax funds," Falcon said. 

Mattare said no reasonable elected officials want to increase their budgets through taxation, but providing the "quality baseline services" that the state requires counties to provide means making tough choices. 

"I would love to be able to cut the budget," he said. "I would love to not have to expand our tax base. But I don't see how we can do that this year." 

The board voted unanimously to approve the Kootenai County Aquifer Protection District's proposed budget of roughly $598,000, as well as the proposed $13.7 million budget for the Kootenai County Emergency Medical Services System. 

Commissioners are expected to formally adopt the fiscal year 2027 budget today.