The Sumter County Board of Commissioners met on June 24. The Board of Commissioners passed the fiscal year 2026 budget unanimously. The Board then went into executive session for the purposes of litigation.

In the June 10 Board meeting Baldwin had stated that; “Sumter County has been, for the last several years, balancing the budget using our fund balance. This cannot be a long-term strategy for the financial health of the County.”

After executive session, Chair David Baldwin was asked whether the new budget would fix the County’s reliance on the fund balance.
Baldwin commented. “We can use a little bit of our fund balance and it’s not an issue.”

He stated that while they used it to balance the budget, it did not always go down. “At the end of the year, we actually added to our fund balance. We use it to balance the budget, and then if staff makes cuts during the year, we actually wind up adding to it, not subtracting.”

Baldwin stated the trend was positive. “I’m gonna say five out of the last six years it went up.”