Crook County tightening belt in upcoming budget

Published 5:00 am Thursday, May 29, 2025

Due to rising costs outpacing incoming revenue, Crook County is having to tighten up expenses in its new budget.

According to County Manager and Budget Officer Will Van Vactor, the total proposed 2025-26 county budget is $132,182,000, including a general fund budget of $25,080,000. The budget includes $66,755,000 in appropriations (spending authority), an additional $24,966,000 in contingency (potential spending authority) and $40,461,000 in reserve funds for future expenditure.

“This year’s budget reflects an organization focused on strategic execution, workforce development, long-range planning and community value,” Van Vactor said in his budget message, which appears at the beginning of the document. “The budget seeks to support our service commitments while preserving our long-term sustainability.”

The fiscal year 2026 budget was developed in the context of economic uncertainty, continued organizational restructuring and rising expectations for public transparency and engagement, Van Vactor noted. He went on to state that it is a conservative yet forward-looking plan that prioritizes service continuity, supports our workforce and invests in systems and infrastructure critical to the county’s future.

“One of the things all of our departments are facing this year is increased personnel costs, in large part due to insurance premiums,” he said.

Further challenging personnel budgeting is recruitment and retention. Van Vactor noted that job market changes, high housing costs and regional competition all impact staffing.

“In June 2024, Crook County implemented a new salary schedule to ensure its wages better reflect the market,” he said.

Personnel shifts generally reflect resource constraints, Van Vactor stated, including decreases in the sheriff’s office due to funding limitations and right-sizing in departments, such as community development, that are impacted by reduced workload or revenue. The proposed budget includes a decrease of 21.7 full time equivalent (FTE) positions from the previous year.

Also contributing to the economic challenges are cuts to federal programs, higher interest rates and inflationary pressures that Van Vactor said create challenges to accurately forecast future revenues and expenditures.

According to the proposed budget document, the primary sources of county revenue are intergovernmental sources, such as grants and other state and federal funding (29%), property taxes (22%), internal services charges (14%) and licenses, permits and fees (11.5%). The top expenditure categories are personnel (34%), materials and services (27%) and contingency (27%).

The county is also in transition as it emerges from a period supported by one-time COVID-related federal funds, such as the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), and prepares for the anticipated addition of new property tax revenues from the Facebook and Apple data centers, beginning in 2028.

“We are going to take the opportunity this next year to examine our core services and make sure we have alignment across the board,” Van Vactor said.

The 2025-26 budget will be adopted by the Crook County Board of Commissioners in June and is scheduled to take effect on July 1.