Roosevelt County staff present conservative revenue forecast and confirm ARPA funds are obligated

County finance staff presented a conservative revenue forecast to commissioners and confirmed that the county's American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds are fully obligated, though staff must reconcile expenditures to specific ledger lines.

Finance staff (S7) said the property-tax projection uses a conservative 96.5% collection rate and that the tax line at that level produces a $7.2 million revenue estimate. On oil-and-gas receipts, staff said historical patterns and current prices led them to set an assumption of $1.90 (down from higher estimates) to avoid overstating revenues. "We typically like to budget in the safe zone, which is, for me, anywhere from 95% up to 97.5%. We chose to stick to go at 96.5," S7 said.

Staff also described how equalization and GRT hold-harmless distributions change with large GRT swings (for example, wind-farm construction can raise GRT and shrink equalization payments), and warned that newly available veteran exemptions could reduce property-tax receipts until the impact is known. The detention-center debt service fund (405) was reported paid in full as of June 2026, removing a recurring obligation.

On ARPA, county staff (S6 and S3) said the full amount of funds has been obligated and therefore will not have to be returned, but that they are still verifying which obligations have been posted to the correct budget lines for reporting purposes. "All of the money has been obligated," S6 said; staff will provide reconciled expenditure details to commissioners in follow-up materials.

Commissioners asked clarifying questions about timing, specific line items and assumptions; staff said they would refine the numbers and provide an updated worksheet showing amounts "to date" and other historical comparisons for decision-making. No formal revenue-adoption vote occurred in this meeting.