WRITER: Josie Heimsoth

Douglas County Sheriff's Office gets new medical services contract for inmates after lack of communication, worries about losing staff

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has been authorized to end its current medical services contract for jail inmates due to its dissatisfaction with the provider. At their meeting on Wednesday, county commissioners authorized the Sheriff’s Office to sign a contract with a new provider, Turn Key Health Clinics, for inmate medical services. The office wanted to end its contract with Advanced Correctional ...

County Commission approves 2025 budget with 2.911-mill property tax rate decrease; crowd calls for even bigger reductions

Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday unanimously approved a budget with the county's largest property tax rate decrease in decades, after hearing from a room full of public commenters who urged them to cut the tax rate even more. The $201 million 2025 budget includes a property tax rate reduction of 2.911 mills, for a total mill levy of 41.298 mills. As the Journal-World reported, that's the largest ...

Douglas County commissioners set to hold final public hearing before adopting 2025 budget, which includes tax rate decrease

Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday are set to consider adopting the 2025 budget — which proposes a significant tax rate decline — but first members of the public will get one last chance to offer comments on the plan. Commissioners will conduct a public hearing on the proposed budget as part of their weekly meeting before making the final decision on the budget. If approved, the budget would result ...

Lawrence school board approves maximum mill levy and budget authorities for 2025

Updated at 11:10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 27 On Monday, the Lawrence school board approved a maximum budget authority and property tax rates that included a largely unchanged maximum mill levy. While board members discussed the possibility of reducing mill levies, there was little appetite for it given prior commitments to raise salaries for administrative and classified staffs. Executive Director of Finance Cynde ...

Kansas statewide open enrollment now in effect as Douglas County schools maintain tradition of accepting out-of-district students

Douglas County schools have always welcomed students from other districts, and Kansas recently mandated open enrollment statewide to allow families to move their children from schools that aren't meeting their needs. Despite this, public school enrollment is still on the decline. The new, controversial statewide open enrollment law – or the Kansas school district choice law – was passed in 2022, and it ...

Lawrence school board on Monday to hear budget proposal that keeps property tax rate nearly level

The Lawrence school board will review its maximum budget authority and property tax rates on Monday. The board is considering a plan to keep the property tax rate largely unchanged for 2025, with the proposed budget set at $215,698,464. The proposed mill levy – one mill equals $1 for every $1,000 of a property's assessed value – is 52.252 mills. This is an increase of 0.042 mills from last year's rate. ...