Proposed state budget may impact county finances, officials say
Sunlight dapples the sidewalks outside and walls of the Isabella County Building. (CM Life staff photo)
The Isabella County Board of Commissioners will be voting to adopt its 2026 Proposed Budget in the next few weeks, as the Sept. 30 deadline approaches.
County Administrator Brian Smith said the county has budgeted items such as funding for the sheriff’s department and a new county building. However, Smith said the state budget bill passed by Michigan’s House of Representatives aims to cut part of its projected revenue.
“I budgeted $1.7 million (in revenue sharing), roughly, in this next year’s budget,” Smith said. “If they do a 12% cut, it’s going to be about $215,000 in cuts.”
Smith said the county is looking to provide additional funding to the sheriff’s department, which had to let go of its road patrol last year after citizens downvoted a millage in November.
He said the cut would impact that funding.
“We've got to wait and see, especially with the state situation,” he said. “We may not be able to afford it.”
According to Deena Bosworth, director of governmental affairs for the Michigan Association of Counties, county revenue sharing is one way the state helps support the services that counties provide for their citizens.
“Counties really rely on this revenue to fund whatever it is that their particular county is in need of,” she said. “There's not really any strings attached to it.”
Bosworth said counties reviewed a raise in revenue sharing last year, and that may impact services funded by the increase.
“It's going to mean people's jobs,” she said. “It's going to mean less road patrol. It's going to mean fewer people in the prosecutor's office. It's going to mean all kinds of different things.”
According to Bosworth, the best thing counties can do is wait and see how the bill looks after it passes.
The House passed the bill in late August, with 59 aye votes to 45 nay votes. State lawmakers missed the initial deadline of July 1 to pass a budget bill. They have until Sept. 30 to pass the bill or potentially face a government shutdown.
