County adopts $262M budget for 2026

The Greene County Commission adopted a $262 million budget for 2026 at a meeting on Jan. 9, concluding a process that consisted of nine public meetings.

The budget estimates expenditures to be $3.3 million higher than the prior year’s budget, said Jeff Scott, the county’s budget officer.

“This was a challenging year in the sense that we didn’t have the funds to meet the needs of all the officeholders,” Presiding Commissioner Bob Dixon said just ahead of signing the budget with fellow Commissioners Rusty MacLachlan of the 1st District and John C. Russell of the 2nd District. “As far as everyone working together, it really wasn’t a challenge at all, because it was a pleasure.

“Our people continue to be our top priority,” Dixon added.

Dixon said in an interview that at the beginning of the budget process, commission members weren’t sure if employees would receive a cost-of-living increase at all.

“That would really impact retention and recruitment to be able to deliver services,” he said. “Through careful decision-making, we were able to do 2%, but on the last day we said no to all new positions and were able to raise it to a 3% COLA to match inflation.”

The budget also includes a 1.5% midyear merit step for eligible employees, according to a news release from the county.

Dixon said commission members feel it is important to do well by employees.

“They take care of the people that have stood by and served the citizens, and they make less money than what they could make in the private sector,” he said. “We need to at least help them keep up with inflation, in my opinion. I wish we could take better care of them.”

The decision to include cost-of-living increases meant that the budget omitted funding for some other things that need to be done, Dixon said.

“We’re not able to make scheduled capital investments,” he said. “We have to put more miles on some of our vehicles and delay replacement for another year.”

Progress
Another highlight is that this is the first budget in more than 10 years when the county’s general revenue fund has been budgeted to build a cash balance, which Dixon said demonstrates fiscal responsibility.

“It’s not a lot – about $40,000,” he said.

But Dixon said maintaining a cash balance is a step in the right direction.

Also this year, the county anticipates paying off Neighborhood Improvement District Bond 2016A, a tax incentive devised for public improvements in the Jamestown Plaza mixed-use development in Rogersville. The incentive was designed to pay back the county for infrastructure work through sales tax receipts from businesses on the site – though the 200-acre Jamestown development never took off, and the county ultimately foreclosed.

“That was a bad decision when it happened,” Dixon said, “but nobody knew the economy would collapse in 2008.”

He said 30% of the county’s bond payments were going toward paying that off.

“The great thing is, in this budget we will finish paying off the bond,” he said. “That will eliminate liability for the county.”

Dixon said the budget also invests in cyber-critical infrastructure to provide increased security over the private information of county residents.

“That’s an increasing challenge in today’s world,” he said.

The budget increases capital investments in information systems by just under $1 million. Another $1 million is going toward vehicle services.

Among the major county offices, Scott said during the budget meeting that the Greene County Sheriff’s Office would receive an additional $4.1 million, with the county clerk set to see a $663,360 increase and the prosecuting attorney’s office looking at a $386,719 uptick. Among the increases, cost-of-living adjustments were a common thread, and county clerk operations are higher due to the election year.

Unfunded requests among major offices included $4.2 million for the commission and a separate $4.1 million for the sheriff’s office, Scott said, citing personnel requests, among other expenditure items.

The funding picture
The budget doesn’t exist in a vacuum, according to Dixon.

“All of this is with the backdrop of a changing funding structure for the county,” he said.

Dixon said the county is funded almost entirely by sales tax, but there is no online sales tax in the county, as there is in the city of Springfield and in the state.

“If someone buys online, they only pay sales tax to those entities,” he said. “As shopping habits continue to evolve and more and more people buy goods and services online, our revenues do not necessarily keep up with economic growth in sales. That’s a growing challenge.”

He said it’s particularly challenging for Greene County, which provides a large number of services and is a regional hub.

“We have faced it with determination to wring out every bit of savings we can with our operation,” he said.

Dixon added the county is trying to harness the benefits of artificial intelligence to enhance delivery of services for clients.