Clark County faces tough choices with 2026 budget

Expenses for Clark County government are rising to meet the needs of a growing population, but revenues aren’t, so county councilors expect to make some tough choices as they set the 2026 budget.

They kicked off the process with a work session Tuesday.

“As you’ve heard for many years, we are in a structural deficit with the general fund, which simply means our ongoing expenses are exceeding our ongoing revenues,” County Manager Kathleen Otto told the council.

To help prioritize the county’s limited resources, Otto said the council directed staff to distinguish between new mandated services and funding needs from nonmandated requests or general critical needs requests.

General fund revenues account for only a portion of the county’s total revenues. The 2025 budget put total general fund revenues at just under $210 million. The total budget for 2025 was $872.8 million. That figure encompasses other dedicated funds, such as the mental health sales tax, park districts, county roads and others. General fund revenues have fewer spending restrictions.

Much of the general fund revenues are already allocated, though. Otto said more than 70 percent of the general fund pays for law and justice needs, which includes the county sheriff’s office, jail, courts, public defenders, youth corrections, probation and others, which are mandated by law.

Despite the structural deficit, many of the department leaders said they need additional staffing to keep pace with the county’s growing population. Otto said 56 budget requests were submitted, with a total impact of $26.7 million on the general fund in 2026 and additional fund impacts of about $7 million a year going forward.

“Most departments and offices have needs because we haven’t grown as our population has grown and service levels have grown,” Otto said.

While the focus in recent years has been on law and justice, she said other offices have critical needs as well, especially the assessor, treasurer and auditor’s offices, as well as departments that support all county employees, such as human resources and the budget office.

It’s unlikely many of these requests will be approved. Last year, more than 100 staffing requests were submitted at the start of the 2025 budget cycle. Otto said only five positions were approved, “because our general fund structural deficit does not support ongoing positions.”

Otto will next present her budget recommendations to the county council at a Nov. 12 work session.