Clark County Council OKs 2026 budget

It isn’t just Clark County residents feeling the pinch of rising costs. Clark County’s annual budget for 2026, which was approved by the county council Tuesday, shows an increase in expenses of about $10 million compared with the prior year. Property owners will see a slight increase in their yearly property taxes to help pay for those additional expenses. According to the budget, Clark County expects to bring in $735 million in revenues next year, compared with the $713.3 million budgeted for 2025. Also, the county will tap $149 million from reserves to balance the budget and cover remaining expenses. In a news release last week, county officials said the budget reflects a strong and financially sound position for the county. However, County Manager Kathleen Otto has warned for several years about the county’s structural deficit, especially within the general fund, which pays for public safety needs like the sheriff’s office, jail and courts. The county’s budget shortfall has been somewhat offset this year by additional revenues it received from the cities for jail and court services. “We have about $7.4 million more revenue coming in from existing contracts,” Otto said during Tuesday’s meeting. Property taxes remain one of the primary revenue sources for the county. To help balance the budget, the council voted 4-1 to approve the 1 percent property tax levy increase allowed by state law for the general fund, road fund, conservation futures fund and Metropolitan Parks District fund. Councilor Michelle Belkot was the lone “no” vote. She cited concerns about rising costs for taxpayers. The council also approved taking the banked capacity for each of the funds, which is the amount it could have increased levies in previous years but did not. The 1 percent increase is expected to add about $800,000 in revenue from the general fund, $508,000 from the road fund, $29,000 from conservation futures and $42,000 from the parks district for a total of $1.38 million. Banked capacity revenue is estimated at $670,000 for the general fund, $445,000 for the road fund, $445,000 from conservation futures and $73,000 from the parks district, for a total of $1.63 million. Combined, the increased levies will raise property taxes for a median-priced home of $550,000 by $20.89 a year, according to the county. That breaks out to $6.96 for the general fund, $9.86 for the road fund, $2.25 for conservation futures and $1.82 for the parks district. While no major spending cuts were included in the 2026 budget, Otto said the county will have to consider cuts next year. A request from the court clerk’s office to support the 12th Superior Court judge added in 2024 was one of the few requests for new staffing approved by the county council. “The clerk has been coming to us year after year, and I’ve seen the struggles that come along with that,” Councilor Glen Yung said during the meeting. “In my opinion, we should have never given permission to add a 12th judge without accommodating the needs of the clerk.” Yung said this is similar to issues around adding sheriff’s deputies without adding support for the court, jails and other entities to manage additional arrests. “I want to recognize all the hard work from the budget office, county manager, department heads, and county elected officials,” Chair Sue Marshall said in the news release. “This has been a long, hard process. I’d like to thank all of the councilors, too, for their diligence in working on this budget.”

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