Calendar Set For ‘Tight’ County Budget Workshops

Young County commissioners on May 11 officially set the county’s fiscal year 2027 budget calendar, beginning a summer of budget workshops that County Judge Win Graham warned could prove more difficult than recent years because of inflation and slowing revenue growth.

Commissioners unanimously approved the proposed calendar, which schedules budget workshops from through late August, with final hearings and votes on the county tax rate and budget planned for Aug. 24. Judge Graham said the county chose that target date to finish budget work before a statewide legislative conference in Austin later that week.

“It’s going to be very similar to the budget calendar we did last year,” Judge Graham told the court. “I thought it worked pretty well last year.”

The county plans to begin workshops June 1 and continue weekly meetings throughout the summer.

Under the revised format, commissioners court will return to its traditional every-other-week schedule, with shorter budget workshops attached to regular court meetings and longer standalone workshops on alternate weeks.

Judge Graham said department heads already have assigned presentation dates for their individual budget requests, with the sheriff ’s office scheduled July 27 and commissioners slated for July 20.

But Judge Graham cautioned commissioners and department heads that the county expects a much tighter financial picture this year compared to recent budget cycles.

“From the preliminary numbers from the appraisal district, there was a considerably lower appreciation in property values than we’ve had the last several years,” he said.

He noted the City of Graham is not conducting residential property reappraisals this year because of budget limitations and said county leaders are still evaluating what options may exist locally.

At the same time, Judge Graham said inflation continues pushing up operating costs for county government, especially road materials and fuel.

“We’re going to have to increase our rock budgets and stuff no matter what we do this year because material and fuel has gone up so much,” he said.

Judge Graham also warned department heads they may face difficult tradeoffs between employee raises and new projects during the coming budget cycle.

“I’ve been telling departments that they need to be thinking about when they’re doing their budgets with me — if we’re going to do projects and stuff, it’s going to have to come at the expense of raises this year,” Graham said. “I think it’s going to be a tight budget.”

Commissioners approved the calendar on a motion by Commissioner Alan Craig and a second by Commissioner Stacy Creswell.