Isabella County approves 2026 proposed budget
The official seal of Isabella County on a county owned car. (CM Life | Blace Carpenter)
The Isabella County Board of Commissioners approved its 2026 budget on Tuesday night, projecting a little over $25 million in both revenue and expenditures in the general fund.
The county’s biggest revenue source is property taxes, funding around $17.3 million and around 33% of the budget will be spent on personal cost.
One of the biggest expenditures is public safety, totaling around $7.5 million in costs.
“The goal of this budget is to stabilize and to make sure everybody understands that we still have a lot of things to overcome,” County Administrator Brian Smith said. “We got to get into our new administration building ... we got to get solidified plans for the MRF (Material Recovery Facility).”
The county approved $500,000 to go towards a bond payment for a new county building and $350,000 on the Material Recovery Facility to help sustain its expenses.
Smith said county officials will be discussing plans for a new building soon.
“We're waiting to see some final numbers, some final costs, and then I'm going to have a group that works with me (on the county building) and we're going to discuss what the best recommendation is to the Board of Commissioners,” Smith said. “That'll probably be sometime early October.”
The county also budgeted $1.7 million from state revenue sharing, but that number is subject to change depending on what comes from the state budget.
House Republicans budgeted a nearly $35 million cut in revenue sharing in their version of State Omnibus Bill. Smith said that could cut over $200,000 from the newly approved county budget, and affect potential funding for the county sheriff's department.
“We're still waiting for the House and Senate and the governor to reach a consensus on the budget,” Smith said. “So right now, we're still up in the air.”
Two significant challenges that the county highlighted in its budget are health care premiums and retirement costs.
The county is facing a 13.25% increase in this year’s renewal of Blue Cross Blue Shield for employees, totaling around $4.3 million in expenses for 2026.
The county also is supporting two plans within its Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (MERS). One is the defined benefit plan, which has 26 active employees and pays based off a fixed, pre-established amount according to the IRS. The county has been working to close this plan since January 2002.
The other is a contribution plan, also known as a 401(K). This plan has 176 active employees and pays based off contributions and investment made by the employee during their time with the county. The county will pay around $3 million to MERS in 2026.
The commissioners will hold their next meeting on Oct. 6 at the Isabella County Commission on Aging.
