The Crawford County Board of Supervisors adopted the 2026 budget, as well as several resolutions revolving around the county's finances, after a public hearing held on Nov. 12.

The county's total levy for 2026 is approximately $11.7 million, down from $12.2 million the previous year. The levy is money the county can tax to cover the difference between its expenditures and revenues.

The mil rate dropped .85 from 6.19 in 2025 to 5.34. The rate tracks the amount of money a property owner will be taxed for the county levy. This year, it will be $5.34 per $1,000 of taxable property, or $534 for $100,000.

Finance Committee Chair Gary Koch presented the budget to the supervisors during the hearing, saying, "The proposed budget is a reflection of Crawford County's commitment to and investment in all current and future employees. A majority of new spending in the proposed budget is employee driven."

According to Koch, the total increase in benefits and salaries for county employees in 2026 is over $1 million. The biggest contributing costs were wages (more than $500,000) and health insurance (approximately $380,000).

The Sheriff's Union and Personnel Committee negotiated a five percent wage increase for 2026. All other county employees will receive a three percent increase in wages, which is designed to assist employees with any increase in their share of health insurance costs as well as promote retention and recruitment.

"Health insurance was a shock this year for Crawford County," said Koch.

The county decreased its contribution rate to employee health insurance from 88 percent to 80 percent. According to Koch, the change avoided a $730,000 increase in the health insurance budget.

"It's a very expensive benefit, and it's only going up. We are investing somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000 next year to try and bring in a health insurance consultant to look at other options," said Koch.

He added, "That's the reason for the three percent increase, really, to try to work the employees' share of health insurance down as much as we could to cover that."

Koch noted the increase in health insurance costs should not eat up the entirety of employees' three-percent wage increase.

The board had to separately approve the three-percent wage increase and eight-percent decrease in county contribution to health insurance.

As part of the budget plan, the board authorized two borrowings: one for $1.1 million for the highway department and another for $140,000 to purchase squad cars for the sheriff's department. The borrowing for the squad cars will be a five-year note, while the highway department borrowing is quickly repaid in the next year, according to Koch.

Borrowing is one of the few ways a county can increase the money it has to work with because there is a cap on how much a municipality can levy. Crawford County cannot levy more than $11,752,267 for 2026.

"It's a continuing trend that we're relying on budget borrowing and transfers to cover budget shortfalls. In reality, it costs $2.5 million more from the county than what we're levying for, so we're using fund balancing and borrowing to cover for it... It's unsustainable in my view."

Koch said the county has been doing some form of borrowing to cover budget shortfalls for at least the past five years.

"I'm praying that at some point the state wakes up. Enough counties are doing the same thing," he said.

Detailed copies of the budget are available at the County Clerk's Office in Prairie du Chien.

• The county use and sales tax for the county increased by nearly $300,000.

• The total expenditures for the county are expected to be approximately $31.3 million, up from $29.75 million the previous year. Other than debt service, the largest increases were credited to the public safety (about $560,000) and health and human services (around $230,000) budgets.

• The county will also see a nearly $2 million increase in revenues from $17.7 million to $19.5 million.

• The county's equalized value rose sharply from year to year. Crawford County's valuation was almost $1.95 billion in this past year’s budget, and it rose nearly $250 million for 2026.

• State shared revenue increased by approximately $56,000 from the year before. The county will also receive nearly $200,000 in personal property aid.

• Koch said net new construction increased from 1.03 percent to 1.37 percent, resulting in an additional $109,000 to the county's levy limit.

• Koch noted the budget prioritized allocating funds for four new jailers for the new jail. The positions are deemed necessary due to requirements from the Department of Corrections. To fund those new positions, the budget had to eliminate three other positions (all currently vacant): a human resources director, emergency management director and one therapist.