Franklin County commissioners Tuesday gave early approval to a nearly $13 million budget for 2026-27, about $1.5 million more than the current year’s budget.

After factoring in revenue, the budget calls for nearly $11.6 million to be raised through property taxes.

Of the $13 million plan, $8.9 million is for general government, which is an 11.5% increase over the current budget, and $4 million is for the jail, an 11.7% increase.

The spending plan goes to the Budget Advisory Committee for consideration at 3 p.m. Thursday at the Emergency Operations Center at 120 County Way in Farmington.

It took some time Tuesday for the commissioners to approve the budget. Initially, Tom Saviello, of Wilton, and Fenwick Fowler, of Farmington, wanted to give the itemized budget to the budget committee and let them decide the final number.

However, county Administrator Amy Bernard said there were changes, including several reductions, that needed to be made and commissioners agreed to move forward. Those changes removed $258,119 from the budget.

Commissioners also removed a request from the Care and Share Food Closet in Farmington for $5,000 because the pantry doesn’t serve the whole county. Instead, they changed the name of the donation to Franklin County Food Pantries and put in $20,000 to combat food insecurity. The food pantries in the county will be able to apply for the money as of July 1, when the new budget is in place, if that item survives the budget process.

They also reduced the Healthy Community Coalition’s request of $100,000 to $25,000.

Once the budget committee makes a decision on the budget, it will go to a public hearing. The committee will then make a final decision on the budget and send it back to commissioners for approval per state statute.

At that point, if commissioners decide to make changes, they would need to be approved by three of the five commissioners. The budget would then go back to the committee, with eight out of the 11 members needed to override commissioners. That action would be final.