GAYLORD — The proposed 2026 budget for Otsego County will increase a little under 5% from this year if approved by county commissioners at their next meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 25.
County administrator Fred Ventresco and finance director Morgan Kwapis will present a spending plan to commissioners that calls for a total budget of $35.5 million next year, up from $33.9 million in 2025. Those figures include the county road commission, county commission on aging and emergency medical services.
Leaving out those departments will leave the county with a budget of $28.1 million in 2026, up from $26.8 million this year.
Several months ago, there was talk in Lansing of a potential decline in state shared revenue. However, state lawmakers did not reduce state funding to local governments. Ventresco and Kwapis said government funding next year will be about the same as it was this year.
Ventresco said there will no carryover costs from the March 28-30 ice storm that devastated the county.
“We are still trying to get more money from FEMA and other sources to pay for costs that we have already covered from the storm,” he added.
Health insurance premiums for county workers increased 17% in 2025 and are expected to rise by about 11% this year, according to Kwapis. There are no major projects planned for 2026 except electrical upgrades to county parks facilities and improvements to the elevator at the county building on Main Street.
Ventresco said work is progressing on constructing a new building to house offices that are currently in the J. Richard Yuill Alpine Center. Beset by age, mold and infrastructure issues, the Alpine Center is being phased out and the county hopes to move all of the court operations, including the county clerk and the prosecuting attorney offices, into a new building that will be built on land near the county dog park between Otsego and Illinois avenues in Gaylord.
Ventresco said if all goes according to plan, the county will seek bids on the new building, hopefully by the spring and then begin construction shortly after. Current cost estimates for the new building are in the $7 million range. The county plans to use American Rescue Plan Act money and other funds and not request additional property taxes for the building.
— Contact Paul Welitzkin at pwelitzkin@gaylordheraldtimes.com
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Otsego County’s 2026 budget won’t include carryover costs from ice storm
Reporting by Paul Welitzkin, The Petoskey News-Review / The Petoskey News-Review
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