Woodbury County Board of Supervisors discuss Fiscal Year 2026 budget ahead of deadline

SIOUX CITY (KTIV) - The clock is ticking for the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors. The board needs to finalize the Fiscal Year 2026 budget by the end of April.

Supervisors have until April 30 at 4:30 p.m. to finalize the budget and submit it to the state of Iowa.

Before that, supervisors have to find a way to cover a shortfall in the FY 26 budget.

April 22, 2025, supervisors discussed potential changes to the fiscal year 2026 budget to help cover the deficit.

Going into that meeting, the deficit was around $1.5 million.

At the meeting, supervisors accounted for more estimated revenue that’s expected to be paid to the county for housing federal inmates at the new Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center. That increase would add around $500,000, cutting the deficit down to around $980,000.

Woodbury County Auditor Michelle Skaff walked supervisors through the proposed budget, showing what would happen if the property tax levy stayed the same as fiscal year 2025, or if the levy was increased.

Supervisors agreed they don’t want to raise the levy.

“Our goal was not to increase the levy at all. Other taxing authorities around Siouxland have increased their levy slightly. But Woodbury County wants to keep ours the same. We were able to do that tonight. We will have to use some of our cash reserves to keep that levy the same,” said Daniel Bittinger, Board Chair of the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors.

Supervisors plan to finalize the budget at their next meeting on April 29.

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