WALLACE — Shoshone County is moving forward with a proposed fiscal year 2027 budget of $18.5 million.

Before it can be approved, the proposed budget will be presented during a public hearing Sept. 1 at 4 p.m. at the Shoshone County Courthouse.

After months of meetings and workshops, county commissioners said they are confident in moving forward with the proposal, which elected officials and department heads throughout the county have also agreed to.

"We went through the budget line by line," Commissioner Jeff Zimmerman said. "We all agreed on each item, line by line."

During the past several years, budget season in Shoshone County has been marked by frustrations and controversy, including budget shortfalls, deficits and, most recently, contention between the commissioners' office and the Shoshone County Sheriff's Office.

This year, all three commissioners said the process has gone more smoothly than in previous years.

"I couldn't be happier. I prayed for Commissioner (Dave) Dose and I to have a smooth last budget season," Commissioner Melissa Cowles said. "And it's been that."

The proposed budget includes a 3% property tax increase, consistent with the past three years. Officials said it is necessary to keep pace with rising costs.

The tax hike is expected to generate about $160,000 annually for the county. The cost to property owners was not immediately available. 

The new budget is approximately $1.6 million higher than the FY 2026 budget. However, the increase is not tied to major spending increases within any single department. Instead, the county is proposing a 1% cost-of-living adjustment, commonly known as a COLA, while also absorbing a 12% increase to maintain its current employee benefits package.

The benefits package has been a frequent topic of discussion in recent weeks as commissioners examined several options to offset rising costs and sought input from county employees.

During a July meeting, commissioners and County Clerk Lori Osterberg discussed several possible solutions, including splitting insurance costs with employees, offering bonuses instead of insurance benefits and providing a COLA.

According to Commissioner Dave Dose, 15% of county employees preferred a bonus instead of benefits, while the remaining employees chose to maintain the current benefits package.

Zimmerman said the county ultimately determined that maintaining the existing benefits package offered the greatest value to employees.

After reviewing the numbers, he explained, the 12% increase in employee benefit costs is equivalent to a 90-cent-per-hour raise for each employee.

Under the proposed plan, employees will receive a smaller wage increase but will not be required to contribute toward their benefits, which officials said would have offset the impact of a larger COLA.

"We could've split it and given them a larger COLA and they would have had to pay," Zimmerman said.

"But it would have been a wash," Cowles followed.

Employees who prefer a bonus instead of county-provided benefits will still have that option if they can obtain health coverage through another source.

Approximately 31% of the budget is allocated to the county's Justice Fund, which includes the Shoshone County Sheriff's Office and jail. While the dollar amount has increased, the percentage of the overall budget dedicated to the Justice Fund remains unchanged from FY 2026.

Osterberg credited Sheriff Shawn Wehr and Undersheriff Travis Skinner for their work on the Justice Fund budget and said she believes the county is moving in the right direction.

Dose also noted that the proposed budget incorporates findings from the county's recently completed wage study, allowing officials to bring nearly all county employees up to the minimum pay scale the study recommended.

The public hearing is the final required step before the budget can be formally adopted and submitted to the state by the Sept. 8 deadline.