The Budget Advisory Board reviewed the Planning and Zoning draft budget, including a $90,000 estimate to update the county land use code and line items for staffing and supplies.
Board members and staff discussed that the $90,000 is an estimate for a scope of work that will be refined and that any firm chosen to perform the update would be selected through a transparent procurement process and require subsequent commission approvals. Board member Sean Yates was introduced as engineer and acting zoning administrator and confirmed the figure and process during the discussion.
The board debated staffing assumptions for 2026. The draft budget reflects pay lines for five positions: the engineer, planning and zoning director, an associate planner, planner I and a compliance officer. Yates and a board member said those fields were populated from HR pay-plan documents. Yates said the department could be reorganized after the code update and suggested the organization might be flatter than past staffing models.
On supplies, a board member proposed maintaining the office-supplies line at $2,000 for 2026; the board left that amount in place. The member said they did not want to "hamstring a new administrator" and that $2,000 represents a small reduction from prior years.
The board also noted that the budget includes an increase in the noticing budget tied to statutory requirements for land use-code updates; the precise noticing costs were not specified and will be developed with the scope of work.
No formal vote on the planning and zoning budget was recorded in the transcript. Board members asked that the scope of work, procurement process and subsequent commission approvals be transparent and that the $90,000 figure be refined as the scope is developed.