photo by: Matt Resnick

Members of the public pack into the commission chambers at the Douglas County Courthouse on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

Douglas County commissioners unanimously adopted a $190.7 million budget for 2024 at their meeting on Wednesday — and once the outcome was clear, dozens of residents who’d showed up to oppose the plan walked out of the county courthouse in frustration.

Wednesday’s meeting was the public’s last chance to share its comments and concerns about the budget plan, and part of the meeting was devoted to a special public hearing, mandated by state law, about how the budget would exceed the “revenue-neutral rate” — that is, that it would collect more in taxes than the previous year’s budget. The budget actually decreases the county’s property tax rate by 2 mills compared to the 2023 budget, but because of rising property values, it actually collects $27 million more than the 2023 budget.

And that was the part of the plan that drew the most staunch opposition from the public commenters.

“Food, utility and taxes for Douglas County residents have risen sharply,” said rural Douglas County resident Rich Lorenzo. “In the midst of this, while most Douglas County families tighten their belts, the commission is seeking to expand the county budget by $27 million.”

“Why not tap into the county’s robust savings?” he continued. “Why not give the citizens of Douglas County a refund to (help) with property taxes to help ease the pain of inflation?”

Lorenzo wasn’t alone in calling for more property tax relief, and he and others said that property values played a big role. In some cases, commenters said that the 2-mill decrease wouldn’t amount to property tax relief for them, because the value of their homes had increased by 10% or more over the last year.

Rural resident Michael Kennedy said that his property value had gone up by 18%. He was concerned that residents were being priced out of living in homes that they could previously afford to pay the taxes on.

“We have to stop collecting more tax dollars from individuals here,” he said. “If you continue to restrict home building, and your valuations are your only means by which you are increasing taxes, what you’re going to do is see the Salvation Army’s business increase by 30% next year. You’re going to see more homelessness. You’re going to see more farmers out in the rural parts being forced to consider whether to sell their land, or rent it to an industrial windmill (company) because they just can’t afford to live in their homes anymore.”

Commission Chair Patrick Kelly said he recognized “that home values have gone way up,” and that the county needed to “expand our tax base to (add) more commercial and industrial (property).” But he said some of the items in the budget, such as funding for the Lawrence chamber of commerce, were intended to help address that need.

“We need to do more (with) our tax base so that it includes more commercial and industrial land, and it doesn’t have the massive impacts that we see on our residential,” Kelly said. “Some of those things you see in our commissioners’ budget are because we want to specifically see better metrics and better results from our community development partners who are asking for far more money to do just that.”

Some commenters were also upset about specific initiatives the budget would fund. In particular, several mentioned roughly $574,000 that would be distributed to the nonprofit Artists Helping the Homeless. These commenters questioned whether it was the county’s responsibility to fund that homeless outreach organization’s work.

Others, including Kennedy, wanted the budget to focus more on “things that are most useful to all county members, and not a small fraction in Lawrence.”

There were also calls for action beyond just speaking out at meetings — Lorenzo, for instance, said that “if we don’t stop this madness, I hope the citizens of Douglas County vote you out in 2024.”

All told, about 15 commenters spoke about the budget, and dozens more people packed into the commission chamber to watch the proceedings. When the commission took its final 3-0 vote to approve the plan, most of the attendees filed out of the courthouse.

Before the vote, the commissioners touted the benefits they expected to see from the money the county would be spending. They stressed that the budget would help fund much-needed projects like a supportive housing development by Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center — which will get $2 million — and that it would help the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office raise its pay to better compete with other departments. Nearly $737,000 was set aside for the sheriff’s office raises, and the budget also includes $2.5 million for merit, market and longevity raises for other county employees.

Commissioner Shannon Reid said she thought the budget did a good job of balancing the county’s current and future funding needs “and anticipating service needs in the county as the population grows.” And she also said that 25 to 30 supplemental funding requests from a variety of agencies and organizations that the county discussed in the meeting “are things that the county has not funded before.”

Kelly also emphasized that the budget process is always a balancing act, and that this is “the most important job I do when determining the tax burden on community members versus the services that we’re able to provide.”

“I think very deeply about the impact on our community members in deciding the balance between services and the burden, and I don’t have the perfect answer,” he said.