The Carbon County Board of Commissioners on Thursday finalized the county’s 2026 budget, approving a spending plan that includes a 1.5-mill property tax increase driven largely by rising health care costs and delayed state reimbursements.

The 2026 budget sets general operating expenditures at $78,427,396, with an additional $2 million budgeted for capital projects and $10,166,077 allocated for special funds. The tax increase raises the county’s general-purpose millage rate to 16.7 mills, with another 0.8 mills for debt service.

County officials said the increase will cost homeowners approximately $150 per year for every $100,000 of assessed property value.

Commissioners said the tax hike was necessary after the county absorbed a significant increase in health insurance costs.

“One issue we could not control was health care,” Commissioner Chairman Michael Sofranko said. “We were hit with a 17.9% increase.”

Sofranko said that increase added about $2 million to the county’s expenses.

“That $2 million increase had a major effect,” he said. “There is no way around that.”

Beyond health care, the 2026 budget reflects other fixed cost increases, including wage increases required under existing union contracts totaling about $700,000 and more than $1.1 million in pension contributions. The budget also includes $19.9 million in annual wages for nonunion employees and $2.7 million in matching funds required for grants the county has pursued. Contributions to outside organizations supported by the county remain unchanged at $521,434.

Commissioners said the county’s financial position was further strained by delayed reimbursements tied to state and federal budget impasses.

“We went through both a state and federal budget impasse,” Sofranko said. “Even though those budgets have now passed, we are still waiting to recover money that is owed to the county.”

He said counties are last in line for repayment following the service providers that had not been paid since July.

“The state goes and jiggles things around on us and then we look like the bad guy,” Commissioner Rocky Ahner said. “I just want to emphasize that we are not the bad guys.”

Despite those pressures, commissioners said they worked to limit the size of the tax increase through staffing reductions and a continued hiring freeze.

“The county has been under a hiring freeze for the past two years, with the exception of replacing positions that are absolutely necessary,” Sofranko said.

He said six full-time positions and nine part-time positions were eliminated across county government in 2025.

“By consolidating positions and not hiring, we were able to adjust salaries where it was needed and absorb additional workloads,” Sofranko said.

Commissioners also pointed to the use of county parking revenue to offset costs and reduce the tax burden.

“One of the most common questions we get is what the county is doing with the money from the county parking lot,” Sofranko said.

He said parking revenue has been transferred to the general fund to support county operations.

“In 2025, we took $578,000, even though we projected taking $1.2 million,” Sofranko said. “That additional money was used to keep the county afloat during the time when there was no state or federal budget.”

The county is projecting the use of about $750,000 in parking revenue in 2026.

“More than $2.8 million has been moved from the parking fund into the general fund over the past two years,” Sofranko said. “That money benefits every taxpayer in Carbon County.”

Sofranko said a portion of the parking revenue was also used to support open space preservation without borrowing.

“Out of that $2.8 million, $1 million went directly to open space,” he said. “We did not issue the $10 million bond or raise taxes to pay it back.”

Commissioners emphasized that the tax increase was not taken lightly.

“We are not here trying to raise your taxes,” Sofranko said. “No one wants to deal with tax increases year after year.”

He said county employees and department heads worked to hold down costs wherever possible.

“There has been a lot of consolidation and a lot of patience from county employees,” Sofranko said. “Unfortunately, the health care increase made it extremely difficult to avoid a tax increase this year.”

Amy Miller contributed to this report