Voters Approve Veterans Service Office Tax by Razor-Thin Margin

By Brian Bahouth

With 35.6 percent turnout, Lincoln County voters approved a five-year tax to fund the Lincoln County Veteran Services Office. See measure details below. Out of 14, 043 votes cast, .01 percent of votes cast made up the margin of approval.

MEASURE: 21-235 Veterans Service Office Five Year Local Option Tax

QUESTION: Shall County levy $0.035 per $1,000.00 assessed value for Veterans
Service Office operations for five years beginning in 2026? This measure may cause
property taxes to increase more than three percent.

SUMMARY: The Lincoln County Veterans Service Office is available to support around 5200 military veterans. The office helps local veterans obtain federal, state, and county benefits for which they are eligible. The office provides veterans outreach services and helps veterans’ families apply for survivor benefits.

The Veterans Service Office is mostly funded by the County General Fund. The Veterans Service Office would receive no General Fund dollars while this five-year local option tax is in effect. At $0.035 per $1,000, for every $100,000 of assessed value, the tax would cost $3.50 per year. The approximate tax increase for a home valued at the County’s average residential value of $240,030 would be approximately $8.60 per year.

The proposed rate would raise approximately $342,000 in fiscal year 2026-2027, $352,600 in 2027-2028, $362,827 in 2028-2029, $373,711 in 2029-2030, and $384,923 in 2030-2031, for a total of $1,816,061. The estimated tax cost for this measure is an ESTIMATE ONLY based on the best information available from the county assessor.