County Manager Shayne Scott’s proposed budget is $107 million, up $6.8 million from 2026.
Scott said a property tax increase isn’t needed because of revenue from sales taxes added in the last two years. He acknowledged residents have recently seen higher property tax bills, but those increases aren’t feeding the county general fund.
“What [taxpayers] are usually reflecting on over the past nine to 10 years is increases in some of our different special service districts or the school district,” the county manager said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Tuesday. “We actually have not raised [property] taxes since 2017, and I don't think we need to this year.”
County employees would get cost-of-living and merit-based raises totalling almost $3 million.
The budget also includes 13 new full-time positions and one part-time role including a school resource officer, investigator, housing employee and assessor’s office staffer.
County department heads requested more than a dozen other new employees Scott is not recommending to fund.
“We've asked our staff to be really judicious in their requests and really look at what they have, trying to be efficient, and I think they've done that,” he said.
The county council will have regular budget discussions at its Wednesday meetings over the next two months.
The council has scheduled two public hearings at the beginning of December. The council must vote on the budget by the end of 2026.
Summit County is a financial supporter of KPCW.
