Ada County presents proposed FY25 budget, featuring increased capital expenses

Ada County Commissioners got their first look at the proposed budget for Ada County’s fiscal year 2025 — complete with a slight increase in property taxes.

The proposed budget, presented to the commissioners Tuesday by Ada County Clerk Trent Tripple, is $391 million, providing money for the county’s judicial services, health and welfare, government, public safety, sanitation and recreation.

Of the proposed $391 million, about $181.7 million (46.5%) will be allocated toward public safety, leaving about $112.4 million for government, $50.8 million for judicial services, $26 million for sanitation, $14 million for recreation and nearly $5 million for health and welfare.

The FY25 budget will increase property taxes by 1.785%. The increase covers the cost of the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho (PERSI) and increased costs associated with Central District Health. According to the Idaho State Tax Commission, there is no legal limit to how much any property’s tax bill can increase or decrease, but every taxing district can raise the property tax portion of its budget by no more than 3% unless voters vote to approve an increase.

During the 2025 fiscal year, Ada County is anticipating collecting around $171.7 million in property taxes, which will help fund police services, the Ada County Jail, Juvenile Detention Services, the Ada County Coroner and Emergency Medical Services.

The proposed budget is a $16 million increase compared to 2024’s budget.

In fiscal year 2024, the county spent $243 million on personnel expenses, $99 million on operating expenses and $33 million on capital expenses. In the proposed budget for 2025, the county will spend $244 million on personnel expenses, $99 million on operating expenses and $48 million on capital expenses.

The slight increase in the budget for the upcoming year came as a result of a few changes in expenditures, including two major projects — a $21 million investment in the master facility plan and $9.8 million for capital improvement and extraordinary expenditure projects — both funded through county savings.

“Through conservative budgeting policies and investment strategies, we have also been able to build up some surplus to address some of our capital needs in our budget,” Tripple said. “This year, we were using just over $46 million in fund balance savings to address a lot of needs.”

Growth also plays a role in the budget’s increase, Tripple said.

“To put things in perspective, the growth in the county over the last two decades is the equivalent of adding the entire population to the cities of Meridian, Star and Garden City,” Tripple said. “Think about the impact that has on county services like the sheriff’s office, with patrol and jail services, the courts, developmental services, elections, etc.”

All county employees received a 1.5% cost of living adjustment to their salaries, an increase totaling $7.5 million. The PERSI rate also increased, costing the county $2.4 million. In addition to those changes, the obligation to provide a public defender moved to the state of Idaho, eliminating 106 county positions.

“With 2,153 employees on the books for this coming fiscal year, pressures to expand will continue to build as population estimates show stronger than normal growth,” Tripple said. “But we will continue to hold the line on smart county growth, to provide quality services to the public as directed by our statutory requirements.”

The county government is now at 39 employees per 10,000 people in Ada County, Tripple said. In 2008, the county government was at 41 employees per 10,000 people.

Next week the commissioners will likely adopt and publish the tentative budget, which could be officially adopted on Aug. 20, Beck said. Ada County residents may submit feedback regarding the budget via email to budget@adacounty.id.gov.

“We’ve had, I think, a remarkable time putting this budget together with all of our elected officials and our department heads,” County Commissioner Rod Beck said. “I want to thank everyone involved in putting this together to keep our property taxes down as low as possible.”