Carroll County executive committee recommends 2026 budget while flagging corrections and nursing-home cost pressures

The Carroll County Delegation Executive Committee on Feb. 21 recommended most of the proposed $45,987,025 2026 county budget but singled out two large cost centers for follow-up by the full delegation.

At a meeting in Ossipee, Chair Lino Avellani and committee members approved grouped departmental budgets — including Cooperative Extension, Human Services, the Sheriff's Department and Information Technology — after reviewing packet materials that included actuals through Dec. 31, 2025.

The committee discussed the House of Corrections budget, presented at $5,920,135 (a 12% increase from the 2025 budgeted amount and more than $900,000 above 2025 actuals). Members flagged a $115,000 increase in the medical contract, a $72,462 carryover for inmate medical bills, and a reorganization that shifts mental-health work in-house while increasing administrative salary costs by roughly $350,000. The committee recommended the corrections line as presented and voted to approve it.

The committee devoted extended discussion to the Mountain View Community Nursing Home fund, proposed at $20,830,442 and adjusted to $20,036,442 excluding reserves. Concerns included agency-staffing costs that remain high despite recent hires, contractual union raises, significant housekeeping salary increases tied to new supervisors (noted in the packet as roughly $118,000), rising food and supply costs, bond-payment changes, and medical-insurance cost pressures tied to a pending Anthem rate update. Committee members also noted revenue uncertainty: nursing-home revenues were presented as $13,931,747, with the packet flagging a prior-year pro-share windfall of over $2 million and outstanding Q4 amounts that could create payback risk. The executive committee recommended the nursing-home budget at the adjusted figure but requested additional information for the full delegation.

Other substantive approvals included long-term debt principal ($554,426) and interest ($200,555) lines, a $59,571 Conservation District budget, insurance coverage lines (totaling $2,244,207) and a tentative $20,000 Medical Examiner line moved for DRA alignment. The committee also approved 2025 encumbrances totaling $3,672,546.60 and an end-year transfer request for $416,176.

The committee’s approvals were generally unanimous in recorded votes, with Rep. Jonathan Smith making motions and Rep. Chris McAleer seconding most procedural votes; Rep. John MacDonald was recorded as absent for some early votes and assumed clerk duties after arriving at 3:15 PM.

The next procedural step is for the full Carroll County Delegation to review items the executive committee sent forward for additional detail, including the Mountain View nursing-home follow-up and budget lines the committee did not recommend as presented. The delegation will also receive requested breakdowns on removed lines and fund-balance impacts.