Lexington News Following a public hearing, Lafayette County Commissioners last Wednesday approved the 2026 county budget, capping a long and tumultuous budget process during which county officeholders were asked to trim their respective budgets to help the county overcome a significant budget shortfall.

The budget process started last October. In November, Commissioners informed officeholders that all of the county’s reserves would not be enough to balance next year’s budget, which was initially projected with a nearly $1.6 million deficit. Given significant hikes in employee insurance premiums, commissioners estimated the county’s deficit would rise to $1.8 million if cuts were not made.

According to figures provided by County Clerk Jessica White, the budget is a balanced one. After considering a cash carry-over (from Dec. 31, 2025) of $10.7 million and estimated 2026 revenues ($20.5 million) and expenditures ($23.8 million), the overall budget projects an estimated fund balance of $7.5 million on Dec. 31, 2026.

In a Facebook post, Presiding Commissioner Harold Hoflander recognized the efforts of Northern Commissioner Monica Ritter and Southern Commissioner Michael Brown during the budget process.

“Thank you for your hours of study and work on this year’s budget. It is our job to be stewards of the people’s money and that is our number one goal above all else,” Hoflander stated.

Hoflander also applauded Ritter for sharing an in-depth look at the county budget process with the public on her Facebook page.

On her page, Ritter remarked, “Our responsibility as commissioners is to be good stewards of public dollars — balancing legal requirements, operational needs, and taxpayer expectations — while planning not just for this year, but for the long-term stability of the county.”

Ballot language In other matters, Commissioners approved the language for a ballot issue that if approved would allow for reallocation of the permitted uses of the local use tax.

The question that will appear before Lafayette County voters in the April 7 election is as follows: “Shall the County of Lafayette be authorized to reallocate the permitted uses of the current local use tax at the same rate as the current local sales tax rate to provide that such local use taxes collected shall be used for the construction and maintenance of hard-surface roads and streets and for general county governmental purposes?”

A meeting with representatives of Special Road Districts was held last Thursday to discuss the matter.

During a recent meeting of county mayors, Lexington Mayor Tom Hughes noted that the county use tax was implemented in 2006 and has been a source of revenue for cities as well.

By removing the distribution of the county use tax to cities, it would greatly impact funding for street improvements for many cities, noted Hughes.