Greene County held a budget signing Friday morning. The 2026 budget includes approximately $262 million in planned expenditures.
County Budget Director Jeff Scott said current revenues are $242 million, which leaves the county using existing fund balance, "which also counts as revenue under state law, of about $38 million to have a balanced budget of $262 million."
He said there were $4,225,000 in requests that could not be funded.
Presiding Commissioner Bob Dixon said this year's budget was challenging because there were limited resources. The county is always careful to maintain "a secure and healthy balance due to good financial planning," according to Dixon, but they can't fund every need.
He said, to make sure they use the taxpayer money in the best way possible, they have to prioritize.
"We, of course, try to take care of the citizens who are expecting the services," he said, "and that entails making sure that we have quality individuals working for them and making sure that we can recruit and retain employees. Public safety is always a very important thing to citizens and the services that each office delivers to citizens like elections, making sure that we run secure elections, which is an expense every other year."
He said they always look at things they can put off like purchasing new vehicles and, instead, trying to get more out of the ones they already have.
The annual budget process begins in June each year, and public hearings are required per state statute.
You can find a link to the Greene County Budget here.
