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Logan County Board
Finance Committee Discusses FY27 Budget Further
[October 15, 2026]
The Finance Committee of the
larger Logan County Board met on Tuesday, October 13th for a meeting
to discuss two items, one of which was the fiscal year 2027 (FY27)
budget. This meeting started at 6:00 p.m. after the Safety Committee
meeting and ended up running for over two hours. Many department
heads were present to discuss their budget items.
All six of the committee members were present including Chairman
Joseph Kuhlman, Vice Chairman Kathy Schmidt, Dale Nelson, Keenan
Leesman, Lance Conahan, and newly appointed board member Andrea
Hinton.
Justin Harmon of Bellwether was on a phone call with the committee
to discuss some of the items in the budget. He informed the
committee that he was presenting them with a “stripped budget.”
Harmon explained that, in this version of the budget, he had taken
out one-time expenses or items he was not sure about in order to
address them with the full committee. Harmon explained that there
were twelve items in total that he removed.
The first two items discussed were a $100,000 item for “courthouse
professional services,” and an additional $18,000 added to the
county board secretary salary line item. Conahan explained that the
former item was for salary for Bill Walter, the person who has been
overseeing the courthouse renovation project. The latter item was a
bit more complicated, as Nelson and Conahan had differing opinions
on how it should be used.
Conahan explained that the item was being budgeted for additional
help for recently hired board secretary Angela Sullivan. He
explained that they were looking into hiring some part-time help
because Sullivan requested informed the board that it was too much
work for one person.
Nelson did not disagree with the
need for help but stated that he did disagree with putting something
in the budget that the board had not yet voted on. He then made a
motion to take the item out of the draft budget. Hinton asked where
they would get the money for part-time help if the amount was taken
out. After no one seconded Nelson’s motion, he withdrew his motion.
Nelson then stated that he would want the item moved to a separate
line item to not get it mixed with the salary for Sullivan.
This led to a civil back and forth between Nelson and Conahan over
money in the current budget that was meant for a new roof on the
Logan Building that was not used for that. Conahan argued that the
money was in a building projects line item and was never for the
roof explicitly. According to Conahan, this money was used for IT,
computers, and new phones.
As the discussion between Nelson and Conahan wound down, Harmon
moved on to the next item he pulled out, a $2,000 per year increase
to warehouse expenses with the Emergency Management Agency (EMA).
Sheriff’s Deputy Joshua Pharis explained that this increase was to
address an increase in cost for several items such as utilities,
internet, their alarm system, the phone bill, water, and sewer.
Harmon mentioned an increase in funds from $5,000 to $9,500 for
office equipment from the Probation Office. No one from that office
was at the meeting to speak on the matter, so Nelson stated they
would have to get back to Harmon after they spoke with someone from
the office on the price increase. That item was kept out of the
budget for the time being.
After was a $195,000 line item in the building projects fund for the
new roof on the Logan Building. Conahan explained that they are
going to get a second opinion on how soon the roof needs to be
replaced, as it has not yet started leaking. This item was also left
out of the budget for the moment.
Harmon mentioned a very large item coming out of the Sheriff’s
Department budget. Pharis explained this item, stating that it would
be in one of two amounts and would be for much needed squad car
replacements. He continued, stating that to purchase ten of them
outright would require his department to spend $635,000. If they
were to lease the vehicles, they would have to make payments of
$215,000 once a year for three years.
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Conahan asked
Pharis if all ten were needed, and Pharis stated that he has a
list of ten squad cars that are over 100,000 miles. The cars he
is looking to replace these vehicles would take several months
to get, meaning that the older squad cars would get even more
miles on them. Fellow board member Kevin Knauer then chimed in,
stating that squad cars are usually idling if they are not
actively moving. This would then mean that the number of hours
the engines have been running is higher than your average
civilian vehicle at 100,000+ miles.
The committee asked Pharis if he would be able to find some
money in his budget to put toward it. He said that he might have
a substantial amount, around $400,000 in his deputy salary line
item. The overflow here is from the fact that the Sheriff's
Department is understaffed and not all the money they budget for
salary gets paid out, only for positions they have filled. The
committee decided that Pharis would see how much money he could
spot, and they would add $215,000 to help purchase as many
vehicles as they could.
Another item from the Sheriff’s Department was for professional
services. Harmon stated that this item went from $15,000 to
$25,000. Pharis informed Harmon and the committee that this item
was for psychiatric testing, lie detectors, health screenings,
and other things that are needed for new hires. The committee
decided to add this item back to the budget.
Next up was an expense from the Zoning and Economic Development
Office that went from $8,000 per year to $16,000. Zoning Officer
Al Green was not present to speak on the increased expenditure,
so Conahan said they would speak with him and get back to Harmon
later.
Then was an item referred to as the “county board office
expense.” No one was exactly sure what the item was for but
decided to keep it at $10,000 rather than raising it to $15,000.
The committee then agreed to add a $3,500 expense back to the
budget from the County Clerk’s office for the computerization of
records. They agreed to increase the County Clerk’s office
supplies budget from $5,500 to $10,000.
The committee spent some more time going back to several items
that they had previously discussed in more detail. Once the
budget discussion was over, there was only one more agenda item
for them to discuss. This item was a GIS (Geographic Information
System) aerial flyover.
The last flyover was conducted in 2023, and the committee
learned that the company Eagle View was being eyed for the job.
There was a package with a clearer view than what the county has
now, or one that would match the quality of the current GIS
imagery. Eagle View would conduct two flyovers, the first would
be next year and the second would be three years after that.
They would also provide an emergency response flyover, taking
aerial images of disaster areas should something like a tornado
come through. This service would be provided at no additional
cost.
Leesman recommended the option with clearer images. It was voted
on and sent to Workshop for full board consideration. With
nothing else on the agenda and no public comments, Kuhlman
entertained a motion to adjourn the meeting.
[Matt Boutcher]
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