Lincoln County trims 2027 budget with eye toward limiting use of reserves

Lincoln County Commissioner Joel Arends pushed through some of the largest cuts Tuesday to the county’s proposed 2027 budget.

These include a $1.7 million reduction in building spending and elimination of a planned Western Avenue roundabout. But he lost efforts to cut a sheriff’s office position and roll outside-agency funding back to 2024 levels.

The votes reshaped a budget that, before Tuesday’s changes, called for $37.3 million in general fund appropriations and $11.7 million in applied cash balance, according to the latest means-of-finance sheet included with the Sept. 1 agenda. Arends said the proposal still represented nearly a 6.3 percent increase in money coming from the general fund and about $1.2 million in added personnel costs across county departments after July revisions.