Hamilton County's administrator has presented a 2026 general fund budget he says is structurally balanced. County Administrator Jeff Aluotto says his plan will increase spending by $12 million.
Aluotto says it's a structurally balanced budget, and $60 million less than what the different departments requested.
“As we examined these requests, for the most part, they were not extravagant requests, but statements of what departments truly believe what they need in order to meet growing service demands of the county,” he says. “Unfortunately we just don’t have the revenues to accommodate those requests.”
Aluotto says revenue growth is flattening as inflation, wages, and needs rise.
He says the budget comes amid several other challenges.
“This will be our last year of pandemic relief funding. Those dollars will be expiring. And we have a highly uncertain environment at the state and federal level,” he says. “More than ever I think we are seeing the potential for state and federal action to substantively impact county finances.”
The proposed budget includes a 3% raise for Hamilton County employees.
Commission President Denise Driehaus says she knows county revenues have only increased slightly, but she appreciates the raises.
“When I got here in 2017 we were broke. We hadn’t paid people a raise in four years, or five years. People were leaving. They were very unhappy. We couldn’t recruit anybody to come to the county,” she says. “I understood it. If you’re not going to get a raise for five years you’ve got some trepidation. I think we have done a nice job of building the confidence of our employees back.”
A budget must be approved before the end of the year. Commissioners will hold two public hearings next month before voting, on Dec. 2 and 9. Aluotto says department heads and office holders will have the opportunity to plead their cases at regular meetings before that.
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