County passes $13 million budget

Custer County will spend $13 million in 2025, after the Custer County Commission formally approved its final budget for next year at its Sept. 25 meeting. The commission held the meeting at the 1881 Courthouse Museum, as it typically does once a year.
The budget of $13,050,418 is up about $350,000 as compared to last year’s budget, which was $12,699,000.
The highway and bridge fund is up slightly, from $3.36 million a year ago to $3.44 million in 2025, as is the sheriff’s office budget, which rose from $1.786 million last year to $1.918 million this year.
Most of the other items in the budget, such as the auditor, treasurer, state’s attorney, planning, etc., saw slight increases in their budgets, while some departments also decreased slightly.
Estimated levies are 1.808 for the general fund, 0.299 for the courthouse fund, 0.588 for secondary roads and 0.204 for fire fighting, for a total of $2.899 per $1,000 of valuation. Levies have remained relatively the same from a year ago, and in most cases the value of property once again rose in Custer County over the past year.
Levies are based on using a Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 3 percent and growth. The county will collect $5,773,461 in taxes to help fund its budget. The rest of the money is from other revenues.
The commission also heard from county highway superintendent Jess Doyle at the meeting, who asked for and received permission to have plans drawn up for work on the lone remaining bridge reconstruction project that remains outstanding in the county.
Doyle said funds for the project will be applied through the state’s Bridge Improvement Grant (BIG) Program, which has helped replace four bridges in the county to date.
The remaining bridge to replace is over Beaver Creek four-tenths of a mile east of Buffalo Gap, and Doyle said he would like to see it replaced with a three-barrel box culvert.
Because the BI grant program is driven by a points system for the competitive grants, the county must get the proposed project to have as many points as possible. Something that would aid in that quest is for the county to have shovel ready plans for the project. If those plans were added to the current score, it would likely push it over the top for replacement through the program, Doyle said.
Doyle said he believes there will come a day when the BIG program is not as lucrative as it is presently, and because of that, he feels it is important to chase after the available dollars now rather than wait. The program provides 80 percent of the cost of replacement, with the county footing the remaining 20 percent of the cost.
“This is the last big bridge we have that is in poor condition,” Doyle said, saying he doesn’t want the bridge to fail and would like to see the county get its replacing over with.
Doyle also presented the annual five-year county highway and bridge improvement plan, which is also required by the state.
The plan serves as a guideline for what projects the county highway department has planned for the future, although Doyle emphasized the plans can change depending on a variety of factors.
The plan calls for the continuation of magnesium chloride treatment of the gravel roads, which helps both hold the roads together and knock down dust, as well as continued graveling and small structure replacement projects.
Also contained in the plan is a road re-gravel schedule, which in 2025 calls for six miles of Riverside Road to be re-graveled, along with two miles of Black Granite Road, two miles of Medicine Mountain Road and two-and-a-half miles of Saginaw Road.
In 2026 there are plans to re-gravel three miles of 7-111 Road, just over two miles of Mann Road, three miles of Cobb Road and three miles of South Fairburn Road. In 2027, Pass Creek, more of South Fairburn Road, 18 Mile Road and more of 7-11 Road are on the docket.
In other news from the Sept. 25 meeting, the commission:
• Heard a request from Custer County Search and Rescue director Sam Smolnisky for a incident command van that will have better cell reception, and a booster satellite phone. The purpose of the van, Smolnisky said, would be for the county to have better communication when responding to calls in remote locations. Such locations are often responded to in the dark, Smolnisky said, and the radio reception can be spotty.
Smolnisky said the van would cost the county around $185,000, while adding he knows there are other agencies in the county with equipment requests.
“We all need more funding,” he said. “We all need more equipment.”
County emergency manager Steve Esser said the van would be good to have “down the road,” but he would like to see more than one bid for a vehicle that costs nearly $200,000. He said he was willing to research ways to help fund the vehicle.
“Some of the other requests that are going to come in today are more important,” Esser said, referring to county fire department requests that happened later in the meeting.
The commission did not take any action on Smolnisky’s request.
• Approved the town of Hermosa’s request to continue to use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money the county had already earmarked for it for drinking water system improvements for the town.
The issue had been tabled from the previous meeting, pending a plan of action from the town, as well as assurance the state’s Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources was still on board with giving the town a State Revolving Fund for other aspects of the planned project.
The money allocated by the county will pay for a new water tank for the town to ensure redundancy in the town’s system. The state loan, meanwhile, will pay for a well, a treatment system for the water, improvements to the main and existing tank, as well as booster pumps to help create two pressure zones in rhe town.