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The Coconino County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved its 2026 fiscal year budget on Tuesday night, dropping the total more than $41 million from the 2025 fiscal year.

Set for $443,009,427 in expenditures from all funds in the 2026 fiscal year, the total is down from 2025’s expenditures of $484,503,861. The drop in the budget primarily comes from a decrease of more than $31 million in debt service, nearly $17 million in unawarded grants, nearly $5 million in the operating budget and $2.7 million in capital expenditures.

The addition of a $15 million stability fund in this year’s budget accounted for much of the remaining decreases in expenditures.

“There’s two primary drivers of this,� said Siri Mullaney, Coconino County’s chief financial officer. “First being our capital debt payment that we will retire this year. We are ending the capital debt program that was an expenditure limit management initiative. Also, some of our flood control district projects and some of our federal pandemic money is decreasing, so our unawarded grant line is decreasing. Unawarded grants is that placeholder for grants that may be on the horizon that we may be able to obtain throughout the year. We know that will be less available than in prior years.�

The board discussed the addition of a committed fund balance back in March, with Coconino County Manager Andy Bertelsen citing the economic uncertainty ahead as cause for additional reserves along with the 15% of general fund revenues -- which equates to about $25 million.

Presentations to the board by county departments began in early May, with the board tentatively adopting the 2026 fiscal year budget on June 3 ahead of Tuesday’s final adoption and truth in taxation hearings.

During Tuesday’s final discussions, multiple members of the board referenced the conservative approach to the upcoming fiscal year budget.

“I think we do need to underline that we are not, in this budget, expanding services,� said Patrice Horstman, who is the District 1 supervisor and chair of the board. “When we went forward with this budget for this year, this was a bare-bones, we’ve got to get by with what we can type of budget and still provide the essential services to our community members.�

District 3 Supervisor Tammy Ontiveros, who went through the budgeting process for the first time after being elected in November, echoed Horstman’s bare-bones description of the budget while expressing a belief that the county could not have done better during the process.

“There were quite a bit of requests that were made that were denied,� Ontiveros said. “I think that it’s important to talk about this, that there were some hard decisions that were made and there were some nos that were given.�

General fund volatility

Coconino County’s general fund revenues are budgeted for an increase of $971,148, with 2026 including a total of $167,525,358 for both revenues and expenditures. While $57,500,000 has been dedicated to contingency, reserve policy and the stability fund, the leading expense from the county’s general fund is salaries, wages and benefits at $59,135,654. Accounting for 53.7% of the expenditures, not including the $57.5 million in reserves, the salary total caught the attention of District 4 Supervisor Judy Begay.

“As a board member, I’m kind of a little concerned about us spending about 54% of the dollars that we get in the general fund being used for salaries,� Begay said. “I think we really need to take a look at our personnel. I know that there’s ways of bringing down that percentage, not with the people that are employed now, but for positions that may have been vacant for some time or just anything that can be done.�

The 2025 fiscal year budget included approximately $55 million for salaries and benefits out of the general fund’s $116.7 million, accounting for 47% of the county’s general fund expenditures.

Mullaney noted that the general fund’s salaries and wages effectively represent a form of service delivery, with the allocation of expenditures not changing much in recent years.

“We have a thousand employees in Coconino County in total, so 50% looks like a significant investment, but when you look at the services that we provide, I as your county manager believe that’s well balanced,� Bertelsen said.

Mullaney later added that the general fund’s revenues are volatile, as a total of $58,151,200 comes from the state’s shared sales tax and Coconino County’s own sales tax, accounting for about 60% of the general fund’s revenues.

“If there’s economic fluctuations, especially negative economic fluctuations that impact spending, the county is very susceptible to revenue downturns in our general fund revenue streams as a result,� Mullaney said.

Finalized tax rates

The board unanimously approved all four property tax rates on Tuesday, with the secondary public health services district and flood control district remaining at the same rate, the primary property tax rate decreasing by 2.3%, and the library district increasing 6.8%.

In total, the rate changes come out to an increase of $23 annually for a property listed at $732,000 on Zillow, with the total amount due rising from $454 to $477. The increase in collections comes in part from the rising assessed valuation of property in Coconino County, with the library district’s increase assisting with the replacement of its nearly 20-year-old Bookmobile.

Coconino County’s primary property tax was the lowest in the state for the 2025 fiscal year, while its combined primary and secondary tax rates ranked as the third-lowest in the state for 2025 ahead of only Greenlee and Maricopa.

“Mostly, it stems from this Board of Supervisors and prior Board of Supervisors for Coconino County being very fiscally responsible and being very limited in what they've done with property taxes over time,� Mullaney said. “Then the changes in legislation came in and said, 'Because you didn’t use the taxing capacity that you had, we’re now freezing you at this lower amount.'�

The complete budget approval process from Tuesday's meeting can be found on .