By Charlene Sims, info@linncountyjournal.com
MOUND CITY – The Linn County Commissioners held their 2025 budget hearing and revenue neutral hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 3. Several Linn County residents spoke at both hearings about their concerns with increasing valuations and the budget process.
The revenue neutral hearing was held because at the time the County Clerk David Lamb published the budget, all of the information was not in yet and it appeared that the county budget and the rural fire budget would be more than the revenue neutral rate.
By the time the hearing came up, Lamb had all the figures and had both budgets down to the revenue neutral rate, which meant the county would not be collecting any more tax money than last year. Other entities like school districts, libraries, and cemeteries may not have chosen to lower their budgets to revenue neutral.
The county was able put a three percent cost of living adjustment (COLA) in their fund and meet a few of the departments increases and still meet revenue neutral because other sources of income were found.
Lamb said that on July 20 when the amounts for 2025 were first required to be turned in, the county was requesting 40.992 mills, which was the same as 2024. However, by the time the final budget was published the county rate had met 38.241 mills, which was the revenue neutral rate for 2025.
A mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of assessed property valuation. Kansas has a statewide assessment percentage of 11.5% for residences, so a house with an appraised market value of $100,000 would have a tax assessment value of $11,500. If the tax rate on that residence is one mill, the tax levied would be $11.50.
With a tax levy of 38.241 mills, the ad valorem tax for the county on that $100,000 home would be about $440 annually. However, that does not include taxes from other taxing districts including schools, cemeteries, libraries and townships. Also few homes now appraise for as little as $100,000.
Lamb explained that going into the budget process in July, the rural fire department was over at 2.055 mills, but as he talked with Fire Chief Randy Hegwald he learned that two pieces of fire equipment were going to be sold that would add income and make it possible to lower the rural fire budget to the revenue neutral rate of 1.561 mills.
The resolution approved the Linn County Commissioners stated that while the county and rural fire had met the revenue neutral rate, three cemetery districts had not. Cemetery district Nos. 1, 4 and 5 exceeded their revenue neutral rate.
Lamb explained that mowing costs had been an issue with the cemetery districts.
During the public hearing session of the regular 2025 budget hearing, Alison Hamilton spoke to the commissioners. Hamilton is the Republican nominee for the District No. 2 commission seat after winning the primary in August and has no opposition for the November general election.
“I had asked for the breakdown of the budget, and I was told it took a Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) request,” Hamilton told the commissioners. ‘So if it’s public, I would like to have a copy of it. If it’s public information, I think it should be posted on the website so we can all review that. We don’t all look at the newspaper.”
Hamilton continued, “That’s hard to question things on a budget when you don’t even get to see the budget readily available or I asked and emailed to David for a breakdown of the general fund as well and I didn’t get it. Because I can’t get it until November or it’s an official KORA request.
“So, I feel like if you guys were open there wouldn’t be so many questions on what’s going on with the money, the budget. It’s just like there is not any transparency with any of this. I don’t even know what to question on it really I need to see it. It needs to be publicly available so I would like a copy of it.”
The budget was published in the county’s legal newspaper as required, Lamb noted.
Lamb said that the only copy he had there was the one for the commissioners to sign but he could get her a copy later.
Other speakers during the revenue neutral hearing and budget hearing expressed concerns about their increasing valuations.
Harriet Bogan said that the valuation on several properties that she owned went up more than $120,000. She asked who did the assessing and how it happens. She pointed out that nothing had changed on any of her properties except that an old barn had been torn down. She said that it wasn’t acceptable.
“We’ve got to do something better because we can’t do it,” she said. “There’s something wrong.”
Marjorie Wake who owns property at Tanglewood Lakes told the commissioners that the 67% to 320% increases that she had received on lots there were just unacceptable. She said she did not understand the increases when the homeowners association maintains the roads – not Linn County. She said she was at the commission meeting to protest the increases.
Tanglewood resident Kathy Stockton said that her valuation had gone up $95,000 in two years. She expressed concern about the increase and asked if there was a way that property owners could be better prepared for fluctuations so they could budget for them.
“Do you have a standard that you increase every year?” she asked. “I’m not opposed to my property value going up. I want that as well. But it’s just hard to budget in when your taxes go up and it affects your monthly payments. If there’s an across-the-board increase that we can endure every year and can budget in or why they fluctuate so much?”
Commissioner Jason Hightower explained that the valuations were based off of sales data. He said that the county appraiser’s office will put together the sales data and that’s what determining the value of your properties.
Commissioner Jim Johnson added that the county had a range they had to stay in to be in compliance with the state. Johnson said the appraiser’s office could explain it better than he could.
Rural La Cygne resident Barb Everhart told the commissioners that they needed to learn how to live on a budget. Everhart said that her taxes had gone up every year the last 8 years a considerable amount. Everhart also complained about the roadwork and ditches near her home not being done correctly.
Bruce Hobbs, a Tanglewood resident, expressed his concerns about the increase in valuation and why he had three identical properties that each had a different valuation.
Hobbs also asked the commissioners what they did to keep the budget revenue neutral when the price of things like gasoline have continued to increase.
Commissioner Danny McCullough explained that some things per department had to be cut. He said that things like the juvenile intake were changed to a new contract which saved the county $67,000.
Hightower added that the Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center (SEKMHC) had received cuts from the county the last two years, putting Linn County more in line with the other counties in their system.
“We’ve looked at any of these items where we are with multi-county things. I would say another thing that allows us to stay revenue neutral is the income coming in from the jail from housing inmates has been a thing that has definitely helped us and our ability to stay revenue neutral and not raise your taxes,” said Hightower.
Johnson said, “That is something that I’d like to see myself, with that being said, that we don’t take that as far as income to run the county to where we’re paying the jail off. That’s personally where I’d like to be, you know.”
Hightower went on the say that some departments had to be cut back and different organizations that were funded by the county also received cuts for 2025.
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