Winnebago County officials gathered at Sunnyview Expo Center to discuss the 2026 budget. September 10, 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — In years past, Winnebago County has started discussions about the yearly budget in October.
But this year, County Executive Gordon Hintz is getting the ball rolling sooner.
“It was really a priority for me to introduce the budget earlier, to go through a process with the board, with the community, to be able to get feedback,” Hintz said.
A roundtable discussion early Wednesday morning set the stage for budget talks — including a $10 million deficit the county is facing in the coming year.
“Having only been at the helm for four months, we’re going to do significant program evaluation over the next year to attempt to right size things,” Hintz said.
That evaluation included a look at the former University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Fox Cities campus, which the county is working hard to keep up and running.
“There’s really sort of a two-year plan and a redevelopment plan,” Hintz said. “We are operating and hopefully minimizing the losses as we continue to work on those plans. We got a facilities study done that should be complete by next week.”
Noticeably absent from Wednesday’s discussions were plans for a half-percent sales tax.
“I think there will continue to be a fluid discussion by the board related to the need, a plan, ways that a sales tax could be used. I don’t think that there’s consensus,” he said.
Hintz added the sales tax is being considered for aging county facilities, which are stacking up maintenance costs every year.
“We’re not going to get there overnight. I sort of imagine addressing our backlog as a 5-15 year plan, in a way that we can manage the financing and affordability of it,” Hintz said.
The county budget is expected to be passed by the last week in October.
Winnebago County will also be holding listening sessions for public input on the budget. Times and dates for those will be announced at a later time.
Comments