Former Linn County Clerk David Lamb told county commissioners last week they “would have to cut almost $2.2 million out of these proposed budgets” to remain revenue neutral. Lamb’s statement is demonstrably misleading, however, and seems designed to justify a 15% property tax increase.
The proposed 2027 budget includes several questionable expense increases, which is outlined shortly. First, here’s one way commissioners could remain revenue neutral without cutting the proposed budget.
Linn County began this year with almost $5 million in cash reserves set aside in non-budgeted funds. Non-budgeted fund activity is published two years in arrears, and only about $600,000 was spent from those funds in 2025, and expenditures totaled about $715,000 in 2024. Most of the money in Special Machinery, Equipment Reserve, and Special Road & Bridge was transferred in from the General Fund and the regular Road & Bridge Fund, and those transfers can be reversed. That creates new revenue that can be used to reduce the property tax revenue.
Reduce phantom budget amounts
Local governments cannot exceed the budgeted amounts they publish, so they routinely pad budgets to avoid having to publish a revision.
Over the last five years, Linn County General Fund budgets were $16.9 million over actual expenditures. The 2026 variance of $910,000 is based on estimates from department managers, and there is reason to believe those numbers may also be inflated. First, department managers are collectively estimating a 10% spending increase over 2025, which is much higher than in prior years. A budget variance of exactly $910,000 also suggests it is based more on broad assumptions than on the sum of line-item estimates. The estimate produced a year ago was $10.8 million, but actual spending was $9.8 million, further supporting the view that the 2026 estimate is overstated. If 2026 estimated spending is lower, the 2027 beginning cash balance is higher, reducing the need for property tax revenue.
Estimated spending for other funds may also be overstated.
As it stands, the General Fund is budgeted to increase by 10%, from an estimated $10.8 million to $12.2 million; that further indicates the 2027 budget is unnecessarily inflated.
24% increase in payroll costs
Collectively, Linn County department managers are proposing a 24% increase in payroll (identified as Salaries in General Fund departments and as Personal Services in other funds).
The largest jump, 121%, is in Road & Bridge, rising from an estimated total of about $973,000 to $2.149 million. Other large increases include:
- 26% for County Clerk
- 13% for Custodians
- 45% for Noxious Weeds
- 50% for Solid Waste
- 17% for GIS/Mapping
- 42% for IT
Additionally, the Courthouse General Fund has no salary cost budgeted, and it appears some payroll is being allocated to the Contingency Fund ($3,000), the Economic Development Fund ($10,000), and the Elderly Fund ($4,000).
The Contingency Fund, by the way, should not exist (and doesn’t in most counties) because it obscures the true nature of spending within the fund. It has a proposed budget of $1.283 million, compared to estimated spending of $508,000 this year. The fund name indicates spending is for future events that are possible but not certain, yet there are very specific plans to spend money next year, including $350,000 labeled Contractual, $50,000 for Tax Sale, $80,000 for the EMS Fund, $25,000 for the Parks Fund, $40,000 for Commodities, $700,000 for Capital Outlay, and $50,000 for the Witness Case Fund (which currently doesn’t exist).
More deception on 15% property tax increase
Linn County residents listening to the meeting wouldn’t know that county departments are collectively requesting a 15% property tax increase, but that’s what is in the 2027 proposed budget.
The standard budget system doesn’t include a schedule like the one shown in the adjacent table, but the information is there if you know where to look. The rationale for the tax allocation shifting so much compared to this year wasn’t provided, but it likely relates to spending changes and the need to maintain a positive ending cash balance in each fund.
Former County Clerk David Lamb made it sound like the property tax increase would be minimal on real estate, saying, “the average taxpayer’s property only increased about 5.17% this year in value” net of property improvements. Technically, the math is accurate, but it’s based on the average of residential, commercial, ag land, ag improvements, and a few other real estate classes.
Total residential values increased by 9.3%; net of new improvements, the average increase is 6.4% on top of enormous jumps over the previous four years. The average taxable assessed value has increased 103% over the last five years, and the average property tax would rise 59% with no change in mill rates across the county.
Unfortunately, the average Linn County resident’s ability to pay has gone the opposite direction.
Per-capita personal income adjusted for inflation declined by 4.5% between 2021 and 2025, while the average residential property tax increase jumped by 49%; the 5-year increase will be 59% at last year’s mill rates.
With this affordability crunch, county commissioners should remain revenue neutral and take some of the burden off of homeowners. In other words, use the increase in state assessed values to reduce residential, commercial, and agricultural property taxes rather than increasing county spending.
Linn County needs a proper budget system
These findings should not be interpreted as saying county commissioners or any employees are doing anything inappropriate. The problem mostly lies in state-designed budget reports that don’t provide enough transparency for commissioners and taxpayers to make informed decisions.
Giving department managers guidance ahead of time would also improve the process. For example, direction saying proposals should not require a property tax increase or cut any services unless staff says such cuts are warranted requires each department to find opportunities to operate more efficiently.
Finally, our work over the years indicates that these findings are not unique to Linn County. To their credit, county commissioners asked me to examine their budgets for efficiency opportunities, and this report continues that review.