Board adopts Resolution 2026-004: supplemental budget includes Firewise grant extension

The Josephine County Board of Commissioners voted 3–0 on April 1 to adopt Resolution 2026-004, the county’s second supplemental budget for fiscal year 2026. Finance Director Ruth Nelson described the supplemental as the legal method to amend an adopted budget and said department requests included Firewise, planning, facilities and human resources.

Nelson told the board the Firewise grant had been extended through December and that the supplemental is important so Firewise can hire staff and carry out the grant. The presentation also noted that some line-item changes were contingency uses or reappropriations rather than increases to the overall budget footprint.

Commissioners clarified that the budget committee meeting had only five members present at the prior meeting and that committee approval requires a majority of total committee membership; as a result, the budget committee had only approved the Firewise request. The board nonetheless moved to adopt the resolution and recorded a 3–0 roll-call vote to pass Resolution 2026-004.

The transcript also contains a reported figure described in the presentation as "the total increase to the 26 county budget is just over 90,004 FTE," which appears to be garbled in the audio. The county’s budget documents and the adopted resolution should be consulted for the exact figures and FTE impacts.