To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Todd Weaver, Director, Finance Department
Prepared By:
prepared
Jessica Savko, Budget Manager, Finance Department
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presenter
Presenter: Jessica Savko, Budget Manager, Finance Department
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Subject:
title
Public Hearing on the 2026 Recommended Budget
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
The purpose of this public hearing is to provide all interested persons and citizens an opportunity to be heard concerning the 2026 Recommended Budget for Arapahoe County, the Arapahoe Law Enforcement Authority, the Arapahoe County Recreation District, and the Arapahoe County Water and Wastewater Public Improvement District. The adoption of the 2026 budget will occur on December 9, 2025.
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Alignment with Strategic Plan: Good Governance - Plan for future service, infrastructure, and fiscal needs.
Background and Discussion: The 2026 Recommended Budget was submitted to the Board of County Commissioners on October 14, 2025, and contained the budget recommendations of the Executive Budget Committee. The Executive Budget Committee (EBC) presented these budget recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners during a study session on October 20, 2025. The recommended budget contains projected revenues and expenditures for fiscal year 2026, is in conformance with Colorado law including the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), and the General Fund operating budget is structurally balanced.
For Arapahoe County the total recommended 2026 expenditure budget is $670.1 million, an increase of 17.4% from the adopted 2025 budget of $570.7 million. The County’s General Fund increased 18.7% from $266.2 million in the 2025 adopted budget to $315.9 million in the 2026 recommended budget. The total recommended 2026 expenditure budget for the Arapahoe Law Enforcement Authority is $15.7 million. The Arapahoe County Recreation District budget for the 2026 recommended budget totals $1.7 million for expenditures. The Arapahoe County Water and Wastewater Authority Public Improvement District (PID) has a recommended budget of $9.0 million for the 2026 payment of debt service for bonds and other debt issuances.
For capital projects, the Capital Improvement Program budget totals $26.8 million with $8.8 million allocated for facility projects, $4.1 million for technology projects and $13.9 million for transportation projects. Additional recommended budget information is attached to this Board Summary Report and will be presented during the public hearing on October 28, 2025. The Finance Department will conduct a short presentation on the content of the 2026 Recommended Budget and be available to answer questions from the Board or the public.
Alternatives: No direction from the Board of County Commissioners is required. Therefore, alternatives are not applicable for this item.
Fiscal Impact: There is no fiscal impact from this public hearing. It is designed to be an opportunity for discussion and comment on the content of the 2026 recommended budget by the BOCC and citizens.
Alignment with Strategic Implementation Strategies: The attached framework helps Arapahoe County institutionalize values-based, transparent decision-making, documenting how we make decisions and carry out actions to achieve the county’s strategic plan.
Staff Recommendation: N/A
Concurrence: N/A