County Budget & Financials

What is the County's Budget Process?

The County Budget process starts in June with our departments. They begin building the framework for next year's departmental budgets examining their needs, services and upcoming projects and then submit these requests to the Finance Department and County Administrator. From there it is an ongoing conversation of review and refinement until a fully formed preliminary budget and capital improvement plan is provided to the County Board to review in September and October.

A public hearing is held in October of each year for constituents to provide feedback on the budget before it is formally adopted in November. The approved budget is then used in the coming year to guide how tax dollars and other county revenues are utilized to provide services.

What is a Capital Improvement Plan?

A capital improvement plan, more commonly called a CIP, is a long-term budget planning document that is reviewed, revised and approved by the County Board annually — even though each CIP spans a total of 5 years. Items in a CIP are typically larger budget items that will last the county many years or even decades. Things like road projects, vehicles, major remodels, large infrastructure updates are included in the CIP.