The Douglas County Courthouse.

Douglas County is on the verge of adopting its $190.7 million budget plan for 2024 that will cut the county’s property tax rate but also will result in more property taxes being collected than a year ago due to rising property values.

When they convene for Wednesday’s meeting, Douglas County commissioners will conduct a public hearing on the county’s tentatively approved budget, giving residents a chance to provide guidance or express concerns before the budget is approved. State law also will require a separate public hearing during the meeting related to the commissioners’ intent to exceed the revenue neutral rate — meaning that the county plans to collect more money in property taxes than the previous year.

There is one caveat to the changes commissioners can make to the budget on Wednesday: They can only reduce the total spending level, not increase it. Commissioners at a previous meeting set the maximum spending level for 2024 at $190.7 million.

After aiming for a flat mill levy at the onset of budget hearings in early July, commissioners made modifications that trimmed it by two mills — reducing the size of the originally proposed budget by roughly $3.81 million. Despite those changes, the 2024 budget is still roughly $27 million more than the current year’s budget. Additionally, rising property values in the county could offset the mill levy reduction. While homeowners will have a lower property tax rate under this new budget, if the value of their homes has increased significantly, they could still owe more in property taxes to the county than they did a year ago.

In another separate public hearing on Wednesday, commissioners will look to adopt the 2024 budget for Consolidated Fire District No. 1 – an entity that provides fire services to a large swath of rural Douglas County. The fire district’s proposed budget of $2.135 million is a slight increase from 2023, and County Administrator Sarah Plinsky previously recommended that its mill levy remain flat at 5.5 mills.

In other business, the commission will:

• Consider approval of a temporary business-use permit for Evergy Inc. to allow property at 1805 East 200 Road, near the western edge of Douglas County, to be used as a laydown yard — commonly utilized by companies for storing vehicles, materials, and other equipment during large-scale projects. In this case, according to the agenda packet for Wednesday’s meeting, Evergy is seeking the use of the property to rebuild a transmission line that runs from the Tecumseh Energy Center, southeast toward Lawrence.

Commissioners will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Douglas County Courthouse, 11th and Massachusetts streets.