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Logan County Board
Finance Committee Discusses FY27 Budget
[October 12, 2026]
The Finance Committee of the
larger Logan County Board met for a special meeting on Thursday,
October 8th. This meeting was held to discuss the fiscal year 2027
(FY27) budget. The meeting started at exactly 6:30 p.m. and was held
in the first-floor courtroom of the Logan County Courthouse.
Chairman Joseph Kuhlman, Vice Chairman Kathy Schmidt, Dale Nelson,
Keenan Leesman, Lance Conahan, and Andrea Hinton were all in
attendance.
Justin Greeley and Dustin Harmon with Bellwether were present to
help the committee go through the budget. Nelson started by asking
about a new draft budget that they had all received that day,
stating he was not sure they were going to be able to proceed with
the meeting since no one had had a chance to review it at such late
notice. He also noted that there was a difference of about $200,000
in the old and new drafts.
Greeley shared that the majority of the change came from an increase
of the property tax levy. He shared that no amounts were changed
with any departments. Greeley continued, stating that the budget is
currently at a $322,000 deficit. He said that this was due to a
decrease in revenue. State income tax decreased, and the Circuit
Clerk fines and fees went down, among other areas.
Harmon continued, saying that passing a deficit budget is not
something that is not sustainable. Harmon also stated that, due to
the state increasing the minimum wage over the last five years, that
has increased labor costs for the county. He gave an example,
stating that the growth in labor expenses from the Sheriff’s
Department alone exceeded the county’s growth revenue for the year.
“In order to match your growth in revenue,” Harmon said, “you would
have to cut every other department to keep up with that.” He then
said that the purpose of this meeting was to determine how the
committee wants to try to fight the deficit.
The committee then had a lengthy discussion over many aspects of the
budget and different funds. Board member JR Glenn asked Greeley and
Harmon what few items from last year to this year increased more
than others. One area they mentioned was utility costs at the John
Logan building. The other they mentioned was the shelter maintenance
out of the Highway Department. These bills went up quite a bit.
County Treasurer Penny Thomas mentioned insurance and how that cost
was likely going to go up as well. It was mentioned that the county
has several high cost claimants on the insurance.
The committee asked about grants for each department to help offset
the deficit. Greeley and Harmon explained that, during their
research, most of the grants that they found came with “additional
projects,” meaning the department would have to undertake some
project to receive that money, and it would only be for that
project. Many of these grants would also not cover the entire cost,
meaning the department would have to take on another expense to get
that money. County Clerk Kelly Elias stated that there is a person
that the department heads can go to about grants, and that her
office was able to save the county about $100,000 with a grant.
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Elias and State’s Attorney
Brad Hauge spoke on their inability to make additional cuts to
their department’s budget. Hauge said that his department cut
$200,000 - $300,000 this year, and that he does not know where
else they could cut. Elias brought out a budget from 2007 and
stated that her department is running off budgeted amounts that
are lower now than they were 20 years ago. Hauge also said, with
the exception of the broadband project, there has not been a lot
of ideas for revenue generation coming forth or being proposed.
Throughout the conversation, dipping into the county’s capital
reserves was repeatedly mentioned. Greeley and Harmon stated
that the county’s reserves are healthy now, but that dipping
into them each year is not a viable strategy. They stated that
this would only carry them for about 8 years before they ran out
of funds. They also stated that cancelling projects would be
their best strategy to save money, but acknowledged that these
projects would likely need to be completed eventually.
Conahan then mentioned the roof of the John Logan building. The
roof is in bad shape, and the Building and Grounds Committee has
been trying to decide for the last couple of months if there
will be enough money in the budget to get that project done next
year. Several members of the Finance Committee stated that this
project seemed like one that was needing to be done sooner
rather than later.
Glenn then asked if it would be easier to rent spaces for their
buildings rather than own them. He said that owning can be more
difficult because of the additional cost that comes with fixing
the spaces. Renting, however, puts the responsibility of
maintenance on the landlord.
It was decided that the committee was not going to figure out
how to fix the budget in that meeting, and that everyone was to
take home copies of the budget and brainstorm ways to reduce it.
[Matt Boutcher]
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