2026 Vanderburgh County budget to have limitations, thanks to Senate Bill 1

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - The 2026 Vanderburgh County budget will face “significant limitations” after the passage of Senate Bill 1 in Indiana.

The goal of the bill was to cut property taxes on Hoosiers, but that also means less funding for local government agencies.

Thursday, all Vanderburgh County department heads were informed by the County Commissioners and County Council that budget increase requests for 2026 will not be considered, with few exceptions for previously signed contracts.

The Sheriff’s Office is the biggest and most expensive county department, so this will have a big impact on them. The main reason the sheriff’s office is so big is because of the jail.

One thing that we’ve reported on in the past is how Vanderburgh County sends some of their inmates to be housed in other jails, because they don’t have enough room. That costs the county a lot of money.

That’s one reason the Vanderburgh County jail is currently undergoing an expansion, to help save the county money. But with less money in the budget, it could impact the expansion.

“It’s hard to envision this not impacting the expansion when you’re talking about a shortfall of this significance, it has to impact all areas of county government,” said Sheriff Noah Robinson. “Being that we make up the lion’s share of county government, it’s hard to imagine it not having a significant impact on all sheriff’s office operations, to include the jail.”

The sheriff says there’s still a lot of conversations that have to happen before they know exactly how this will impact the expansion and the sheriff’s office in general.

He says the summer months are when they put together their budget proposal, so they’ll have to do that with potentially major cuts in mind.

Senate Bill 1 is likely to have an impact on the city of Evansville’s 2026 budget as well. Officials with Mayor Stephanie Terry’s office say conversations are ongoing around the impacts of SB 1.

The full statement sent out about the Vanderburgh County 2026 budget can be read below:

Due to anticipated reductions in tax revenue resulting from Senate Bill 1 (SB1), the Vanderburgh County Commissioners and County Council have announced that the 2026 county budget will face significant limitations.

Department heads have been informed that budget increase requests for 2026 will not be considered, with the only likely exceptions being for previously signed contractual obligations. This proactive measure is necessary to maintain financial stability in light of the revenue shortfalls expected under SB1.

Vanderburgh County remains focused on responsible stewardship of public funds and appreciates the cooperation of all departments and community partners during this time of adjustment.