LOGAN – During a preliminary discussion of the Cache County budget for next year on Aug. 19, County Auditor Matt Funk delivered sobering news to members of the Cache County Council.
Based on submissions from county department heads, Funk projected the 2026 budget to be more than $68.9 million, including a shortfall of $7.9 million.
Funk’s projection on Aug. 19 was only the first public step in the budget process. On Aug. 26, the council members will hear a tentative budget proposal from County Executive David Zook, which Council Chair Sandi Goodlander said she hoped would include major cuts in the proposed spending suggested by department heads.
After that process, members of the county council will likely propose their own spending reductions.
Council members are trying to avoid — or at least minimize – a property tax hike for county residents next year.
Funk estimated that a 36 percent property tax increase would be needed to make up the full amount that $7.9 million budget shortfall.
That would translate to a $127 tax increase on an average Cache County home with a taxable value of $290,000.
Alternatively, the county could borrow half that amount from its $21 million fund balance savings, which would reduce the amount of a hypothetical property tax increase to just 18 percent (about $66).
Although council members seemed to be hopeful that the budget shortfall could be entirely made up with spending reductions, they are somewhat limited in the amount of those cuts they can propose, according to Funk.
“The county spends 47 cents of every dollar on public safety,” Fund explained. “In this budget of $69 million, the public safety component is over $29 million.”
Given recent events in nearby Tremonton, however, where two law enforcement officers were killed and a third wounded, Fund said attempting to short change public safety expenditures seems unconscionable.
Discussion of the proposed budget will continue at the next meeting of the Cache County Council on Tuesday, Aug. 26.