08/18/2026
Last week, the Morgan County Correspondent reported that the proposed 2027 county budget had increased by approximately 10 percent.
That headline understandably caused concern. But without additional context, it leaves readers with the impression that Morgan County government is increasing its ongoing spending by 10 percent and that taxpayers will soon be asked to pay for that increase.
That is not what the proposed budget shows.
The proposed 2027 county budget is approximately $89.4 million, about $12.6 million higher than the comparable 2026 figure.
But $12 million of that $12.6 million increase (approximately 95 percent of the entire increase) is a single, one-time appropriation from the county’s Rainy Day Fund.
That $12 million is intended for the final phase of the county’s building project, including renovation of the county administration building. It is not $12 million in new annual operating expenses, and it is not $12 million that must be raised through new property taxes.
It is money the county already has.
Over the past several years, Morgan County has accumulated substantial cash reserves, including significant interest earnings on county investments. The County Council’s intention is to use existing cash to complete this project rather than borrow additional money and issue more debt.
When that one-time $12 million appropriation is removed from the comparison, the remaining year-over-year increase is approximately $628,000, or about 0.8 percent.
That is a very different picture from an ongoing 10-percent expansion of county government.
There is another number taxpayers should know.
The county’s property-tax rate is proposed to remain nearly unchanged. The 2026 rate is approximately 0.4747, while the proposed 2027 rate is approximately 0.4803.
That is an increase of just 0.0056 in the rate.
So while the gross appropriated budget increases because of the one-time use of existing county cash, the county property-tax rate is essentially flat from one year to the next.
It is also important to distinguish the county tax rate from a homeowner’s total property-tax bill.
County government represents only about 30 percent of the typical property-tax bill. The remaining approximately 70 percent comes from other local taxing units, including school corporations, townships, libraries, municipalities and other local entities. The exact percentages vary depending upon where a taxpayer lives, but county government is only one component of the overall bill.
There is one additional budgeting distinction that is sometimes overlooked.
An appropriation is authorization to spend money. It does not mean every dollar appropriated will actually be spent. The 2027 budget projections themselves anticipate millions of dollars in unused appropriations.
None of this means the public should pay less attention to county spending. Quite the opposite.
Taxpayers should scrutinize the county budget. They should ask questions, expect elected officials to justify expenditures and hold the County Council accountable for how public money is managed.
But that scrutiny should begin with an accurate understanding of the numbers.
The simplest way to summarize the proposed 2027 budget is this:
Approximately 95 percent of the apparent year-over-year increase comes from a one-time $12 million appropriation of money the county already has.
Without that one-time item, the remaining increase is approximately 0.8 percent.
And despite the large increase in the gross appropriation total, the proposed county property-tax rate remains nearly unchanged from 2026.
Those facts provide important context for readers evaluating Morgan County’s 2027 budget.
