# 10/14/2026 Finance & Human Resources Committee Meeting - Department Budget Review 2 of 3


**Body:** Racine County Public Meetings
**Date:** October 13, 2026
**Jurisdiction:** SLED

**Tags:** Public Safety, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Physical Infrastructure


The Racine County Finance and Human Resources Committee’s October 14, 2026 meeting reviewed proposed 2027 department budgets; the committee did not take formal action on the budget, with action scheduled for October 22. The Register of Deeds reported a largely flat budget, including an expected 4% increase in software maintenance, and noted $145,000 in reserve use to offset the land-information levy impact and $96,000 for a Carthage College certification program. Human Resources proposed a second employee health and wellness center location at an existing Ascension building, with roughly $65,000–$70,000 in added staffing costs, and discussed health-plan cost controls. Dispatch described next steps with Axon to implement call-taking assistance, transcription, and translation; the AI call-answering feature would be introduced cautiously. No vendor award or procurement approval was made.

The Sheriff’s Office discussed a 3.4% increase in the jail food-service contract and rising jail medical and pharmaceutical costs; VitalCore is in year four of a five-year medical contract, with the county also exploring a possible shared in-house service. The proposed budget includes five sunset correctional-officer positions costing just under $450,000 to support Department of Corrections inmate placements, which generate additional revenue. Capital-plan estimates include $1.4 million in 2029 for a jail professional-visitation/emergency-management center project, $650,000 for range improvements in each of 2029 and 2030, and replacement jail laundry equipment. The County Board budget also includes a proposed 0.5 FTE legislative/AV support position. These items were reviewed rather than approved at this meeting.

**Source:** Racine County Public Meetings