El Paso County will not cut positions or services in what Chief Financial Officer Nikki Simmons called a “recession-resistant” preliminary budget for next year.

“We have sufficient reserves to weather us through several years of uncertain economic activity,” she said at the first presentation on the budget last week.

The budget does not call for increases over last year, either, with no new full-time positions recommended. With the new budget, El Paso County has indicated it is likely not among other local governments that are facing budget reductions, including Colorado Springs, which has projected a $31 million shortfall.

The 2026 budget projects a flat 0.26% revenue budget increase over 2025.

Taxpayers in the preliminary budget will receive a $4.48 million refund under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights Amendment from excess 2024 tax revenues — about $19 per household, credited to the 2026 tax bill. The county also adopted a property tax temporary mill levy reduction of 1.374 mills to stay under the 2026 TABOR revenue cap.

Property tax revenue is projected to increase in the county by about 6.45%, to $90 million. The increase in revenue doesn’t necessarily mean an increase to an individual property owner’s bill, which is based on different assessment rates for different tax districts.

Questions remain about the county’s administration of public assistance programs, which may see budget changes in 2026 due to new eligibility requirements in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed in July. Simmons said the new eligibility requirements for programs like Medicaid, including increased frequency of redeterminations, might impact overall cost of administration.

She said the state has not yet indicated whether it would match those costs or pass them along to counties.

Commission Chair Carrie Geitner said the new measures might also decrease waste and abuse, lowering the overall caseload.

“We don’t all have our crystal ball,” she said.

One Department of Human Services program which froze new applications last year will remain frozen in the 2026 preliminary budget. While the county’s Child Care Assistance Program received an infusion of $3.8 million — an increase of about 16% of its budget — Simmons said the rising costs of the program still make adding new children financially untenable.

The CCAP program subsidized childcare for about 2,755 families in El Paso County as of last year. The freeze on new applications has been in place since November, part of a wave of other Colorado counties that halted new applications or created waitlists.

The budget includes some investments into long-term maintenance projects. County road pavement preservation remains “high priority” and will receive $12 million in one-time and ongoing funding in the 2026 budget. The overall road and bridge fund rose to over $40 million, up from nearly $14 million in 2014.

“We have made significant progress, without raising taxes, to put money towards roads,” said Simmons.

County parks and facilities also receive $4.9 for upgrades and improvements.

The county has three more budget hearings scheduled, including presentations from individual departments. The next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 21.