The following are highlights from today’s Washoe County Board of County Commissioners meeting:
1. Board advances FY26 budget: County Manager Eric Brown, Assistant County Manager Dave Solaro, and Budget Manager Lori Cooke presented an overview of the County Manager’s Recommended Budget for Fiscal Year 26 (FY26), which begins July 1. By law, the county budget must be balanced each year. The Board decided to not take a vote on the proposed budget but rather to provide feedback to staff on areas the commissioners would like to refine.
“Getting direction from the Board, that is the main intent of today,” Cooke said. “We take those recommendations and feedback and plug them in and then create a path forward.”
The approximately $1 billion budget over 29 funds incorporates Board priorities of funding for existing contractual obligations, supplies, utilities, personnel costs, capital improvements and operations, and maintaining the County’s assets and infrastructure needs. Additionally, the budget supports the Board’s Strategic Plan, which was affirmed in January this year to prioritize seniors, mental health, and capital improvement projects and infrastructure.
Cooke noted that consolidated tax (C-Tax) is volatile, as it is primarily composed of sales tax. With the finalization of the collective bargaining agreements, continued flattening of C-Tax revenue, and the recently confirmed increase in PERS rate contributions for next year, the forecast reflects unsustainable structural deficits in earlier years than previously thought.
“The information that was presented to me and us happened at the January Board of County Commissioners meeting, and it was very clear that there are a lot of things out of our control,” Commissioner Mariluz Garcia said, continuing on to list: “The flattening of the C-Tax, the PERS increase that caught us off-guard in December, the economic conditions both here and in Nevada and throughout the U.S., the tough housing market that we’re facing and the high unemployment rates that we have in Nevada.”
Commissioners discussed holding a special meeting to dive deeper into specific funds before final adoption on May 20. If a special meeting is held, it will be publicly noticed three working days in advance.
2. Board approves donations to county departments and programs: The Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the following donations to Washoe County Regional Parks and Open Space:
- $2,486 from various donors for the Come in from the Cold program
- $719 from the Pickleball Players for new nets
- $11,500 from Glen Atkinson for improvements at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park
- $3,800 from various donors for the Lazy 5 Summer Music Series
- Just over $80 from various donors to the May Museum
- $30,553 from the May Foundation for interpretive panels and a memorial plaque
- $7,818 from various donors to the May Arboretum for a memorial tree, bench, and general maintenance
- Just over $46,000 in Manpower staffing from the May Arboretum Society
- A donation of cacti plants from Peter Ting valued at $3,000
- Owl carvings and a bench valued at just under $3,000 donated by Timothy Torrell
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