The Yates County Legislature approved its 2026 budget Thursday night by a 13-1 vote. Legislator Terry Button cast the only no vote, saying he felt more spending could be cut.
The new budget sets the tax levy at $17.8 million, up $1.6 million from 2025, with the tax rate rising a penny to $4.02 per $1,000 of assessed value.
County Administrator Jessica Mullins said the increase is largely driven by rising costs for employee recruitment and retention, retirement, medical insurance, and state-mandated programs, factors beyond the county’s control that make up more than 80 percent of the levy.
The budget will exceed the state’s property tax cap. While giving her budget presentation prior to Thursday night’s vote, Mullins said rising costs for state-mandated programs and stagnant reimbursements are the biggest challenges.
“The reimbursements from the state and federal government remain unchanged for many of those mandates, and the tax formula has not changed since its implementation. To provide programs and services at a status quo level, maintain our facilities, and recruit and retain qualified staff, I recommend we override the tax cap. It’s not a lot, but it’s still over. We cannot put ourselves at risk knowing the challenges ahead.”
Under the budget, there will be no cuts to services, positions, programs, or capital improvement projects that were previously approved.
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