MARSHALL — With higher health and human services costs on the horizon for next year, Lyon County Commissioners need to get an early start thinking about the 2027 budget, Administrator Loren Stomberg said this week.

At Tuesday’s county board meeting, Stomberg said possible options facing the county included reducing the amount spent on appropriations to nonprofits, paying off debt, or possibly setting a 12-15% preliminary levy increase for 2027.

“If we give everybody what they received for appropriations in 2026, if we continue on with our bond proceeds and levy for the bond payments, and if we don’t go into a deficit or use reserves to prop up the levy, we’re going to be in that 12% (levy increase),” Stomberg said.

It was possible that increased costs from Human Services could lead to a levy increase that was closer to 15% or 16%, he said.

However, at this point, the outlook for what the county’s levy increase could look like is not settled, Stomberg said.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Stomberg said he was bringing up the subject of the next year’s budget about a month earlier than normal. This week, commissioners got news from Southwest Health and Human Services that it would need an estimated $2.1 million in funding to cover shifting cost burdens for state and federal programs, along with costs like wages and insurance.

Stomberg said Lyon County would also likely be looking at a 3% increase to its wage scale next year, and increases in health insurance costs.

“I think it’s important that the board does adopt a budget that does not dip into reserves,” Stomberg said. “We’ve done that the last two years.”

Stomberg said some of the factors commissioners would need to consider for next year’s budget would include how to handle funding appropriations to nonprofits. The Marshall-Lyon County Library would have one of the larger appropriations requests for next year at more than $400,000, Stomberg said. State law does require counties to contribute a minimum amount toward public library systems.

“You’d want to be looking at, if you wanted to go down the road of appropriations, what would be a fair and equitable way to do that?” Stomberg said.

Another option the county could pursue would be to buy down debt, Stomberg said.

“Option three is to go with a 12% to 15% increase on the preliminary levy,” he said. In that case, commissioners would be able to hear feedback from county residents at the annual “truth in taxation” meeting.

Commissioner Todd Draper said the county budget committee had met to discuss different budget scenarios.

“We need to look at what we want to do with our debt service, and what we think is comfortable for a (levy) increase,” Draper said. “It’s not going to be easy.”

“We’re going to have to do some cuts. There’s going to be some people not happy, but I think we’ve got to do it. Because coming the next year, it’s just going to keep getting worse,” said Commissioner Gary Crowley. Crowley said he told constituents that the board would do everything possible to get the 2027 levy increase under 10%.

“I came to this board with the thought that we have to take care of our constituents and not bleed them dry with taxes,” Commissioner Thomas Andries said. “I agree with Gary, it’s got to be under 10%.”

Stomberg said he visited with county department heads on Monday, and would continue to have budget discussions with county departments.