photo by: Jackson Barton/Journal-World File Photo

The Douglas County Courthouse and downtown Lawrence are pictured in an aerial photo Saturday, July 13, 2019.

Douglas County leaders will soon hold a public hearing for the county’s 2022 budget, which would increase property taxes for county residents.

The hearing will take place Wednesday as part of the Douglas County Commission’s regularly scheduled meeting. The proposed $148.5 million budget would increase the property tax rate by about 1 mill, which would result in the owner of a $200,000 home paying about $23 more a year in taxes.

The increase is tied in part to a change in the county’s funding agreement with the City of Lawrence for the jointly operated fire and medical department. The changes, which the city has said more evenly distribute the costs between the two governments, increases the county’s share of the cost by about $2.6 million. The county’s budget also includes other additions, such as an additional $1.2 million in social service funding, $1.1 million in pay increase for county employees and funding for several new positions.

The draft budget that will go before the commission Wednesday includes changes the commission agreed to make to the budget recommended by county administration. The recommended budget proposed a property tax rate increase of about 1.7 mills, or the equivalent of about $40 more per year for the owner of a $200,000 home. As the Journal-World previously reported, county commissioners whittled down that proposed increase earlier this summer by making some reductions in spending and agreeing to cover other costs with reserve funds maintained in the county’s fund balance. Commissioners held three days of budget hearings and two days of budget deliberations in July, but the official vote on the draft budget will occur Wednesday.

While the changes to the fire and medical agreement produced the single biggest dollar impact, the county’s 2022 budget also includes several other new additions, such as:

• An additional $1.2 million in social service funding for a variety of nonprofits, including about $584,000 for Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center for enhanced homeless services and to create a mobile access team; $326,000 for a mobile crisis call center through Kansas Suicide Prevention Headquarters; about $114,000 to the Lawrence Humane Society for enhanced animal code enforcement; and $62,000 to expand re-entry housing services provided by Artists Helping the Homeless, among other additions.

• $1.1 million to provide cost-of-living, merit and longevity pay increases to county employees

• $500,000 reallocated into the Capital Improvement Program to increase funding for roads, bridges and facilities

• $425,000 to create a public defender office to represent people accused of misdemeanor crimes

• $200,000 to expand the county’s Drug Court services

• $150,000 to purchase two mobile incident command dispatching units for emergency communications

• About $143,00 for a program manager for human services navigation and assistance, including about $65,000 in community assistance funding

• About $96,000 to fund a new planning position for the county’s zoning and codes department.

• About $90,000 for two new positions for the county clerk to help facilitate the clerk’s office opening a new election headquarters office in The Malls Shopping Center at 23rd and Louisiana streets.

• About $71,000 for a programmer in District Court

• About $58,000 for a correctional officer in the Sheriff’s Office to assist with video court appearances

• About $51,000 for a cook for the Douglas County Jail

The County Commission will convene at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the county courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St. Residents can participate in the meeting in person, virtually or via phone, and more information about those options is available at douglascountyks.org/commission/meetings.