26-27 Proposed Budget (Mobile Phone Optimized) – 5.19.26
– Fiscal Year 2025-26 Budget Book (Stories OPENGOV)
– Fiscal Year End Audit 25 (Unavailable) – Finance and departmental staff are currently assisting the auditors to complete the audit for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
The FY26–27 Proposed Budget Message outlines a county government attempting to balance rising operational costs, service demands, staffing pressures, and financial uncertainty while maintaining core public services. Lincoln County is attempting to maintain (and in some areas expand) public services during a period of significant uncertainty involving inflation, healthcare costs, staffing pressures, administrative instability, and unpredictable federal/state funding.
REVIEW THE 26-27 PROPOSED BUDGET – PROVIDE FEEDBACK
The purpose of the budget and the Budget Committee is much larger than simply approving numbers. Budgets reveal organizational priorities more honestly than rhetoric. A budget is not merely a financial document — it is a public expression of values, priorities, leadership, and policy direction.
“Will the 26-27 proposed budget accurately reflect the county’s priorities, risks, and stewardship of taxpayer dollars?”
The committee exists to publicly determine whether county resources, staffing, and priorities are aligned with the community’s values, operational realities, legal obligations, and long-term financial sustainability. The budget process should create opportunities for elected officials, budget committee members, and the public to challenge assumptions, ask questions, understand definitions and mechanics, and where possible improve upon historical practices. Through transparency, strategic planning, and public participation, the budget process helps ensure that community priorities, fiscal responsibility, and quality public services remain connected and sustainable over time.
In the absence of a countywide strategic plan, the Budget Committee can still meaningfully rely upon Lincoln County’s mission statement as a foundational guide for fiscal and operational decision-making. The mission of Lincoln County is “to provide legally required and locally desired essential public services in an efficient, effective, and respectful manner.” Until the County establishes more uniform long-term strategies, measurable goals, and coordinated organizational priorities, the departmental budget narratives themselves help communicate the evolving aspirations, responsibilities, and service objectives of county government.
At its core, the county’s foundational service profile — public safety, health and human services, infrastructure, planning, administration, and community support systems — is inherently tied to the economic stability, resilience, and overall well-being of the community. Sustainable budgeting therefore is not solely about balancing expenditures and revenues, but about responsibly maintaining the organizational capacity necessary to support essential services, community confidence, and long-term public value for the residents of Lincoln County.
“As we move into the FY 2026–27 budget process, I want to continue encouraging a transparent and deliberative public discussion regarding the county’s financial priorities, organizational structure, and stewardship of taxpayer dollars.”
Under Oregon budget law, the Budget Committee plays an important oversight role prior to formal budget adoption. ORS 294.428 specifically provides that the Budget Committee may: “demand and receive from any officer, employee or department… any information the committee requires for the revision and preparation of the budget document.
The process is intended to allow committee members and the public to: and examine organizational and financial issues before adoption. ask questions, request clarification, understand assumptions, and examine organizational and financial issues before adoption.