photo by: Journal-World

The west side of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.

New figures are in for Douglas County’s 2024 finances, and it is shaping up to be a year of big gains for several of the county’s savings accounts.

The county’s general operating fund — which pays for the bulk of county services — collected $9.3 million more in revenues than what the county budgeted to collect in 2024. The general fund also spent about $5 million less than what was budgeted for in 2024. When combined, that’s approximately $14.3 million of funds that county commissioners now must decide what to do with.

At the County Commission’s meeting on Wednesday, commissioners will consider moving virtually all of the money into special reserve funds and other accounts that act like savings accounts for the county.

The $14.3 million in general fund money is just a portion of the money that commissioners are being asked to move as part of their annual year-end transfer process. The agenda for Wednesday’s meeting lists more than $30 million worth of transfers to make among county funds, with nearly all of that money being transferred to accounts that don’t support day-to-day operations but rather are used for one-time expenses or emergencies.

The transfers come in a couple of different forms — those that were planned as part of the 2024 budget, and those that were not. When the county approved its 2024 budget in the summer of 2023, it intentionally sought to increase the amount of several of its savings accounts.

According to a memo in the agenda, more than $20 million in the 2024 budget was intended to be placed in reserve funds to “pay for future one-time expenditures or capital replacement items.”

As county accountants have closed out the 2024 financial books, however, it is now clear that there’s additional money available to transfer. The staff memo to commissioners recommends $11.9 million of unbudgeted transfers be made to a variety of reserve funds.

This includes funding to multiple equipment reserve funds for things like sustainability, information technology and sheriff operations, heritage conservation and first responders. It also includes over $9.2 million proposed to be transferred to the capital improvement plan fund to allocate towards specific projects during 2026 budget deliberations and adoption of the county’s five-year plan.

County commissioners each year make transfers to various reserve funds as part of their year-end financial processes. However, this year’s process occurs as questions have emerged about the county’s adherence to its fund balance policy, which is designed to limit the amount of money that the county holds in funds that aren’t being used for day-to-day operations.

A Journal-World investigation in October found that at least one key operating fund — the county’s Employee Benefits Fund — was out of compliance with the county’s fund balance policy. The county’s policy says the covered accounts can’t have fund balances that are more than 25% of their revenues, but the Employee Benefits Fund had estimated balances of nearly 60%. In total, the fund was estimated to have nearly $5 million more than what the county’s policy allows.

In October, county officials didn’t dispute the violation of the fund balance policy, but rather said they might look at changing the language of the policy after the County Commission expanded from three members to five. That expansion happened in January, and Wednesday’s meeting will be the first where the expanded commission will consider the fund balance issue. A change in policy, however, is not listed as one of the items up for consideration at Wednesday’s meeting.

The Journal-World on Tuesday asked whether all of the county’s funds would meet the county’s fund balance policy following the recommended year-end transfers. County Administrator Sarah Plinsky said that information wasn’t immediately available.

In other business, county commissioners will:

• Consider authorizing the purchase of emergency fire dispatch protocol software for the Emergency Communications Center, at a cost of $154,406 in 2025 and $19,000 annually in ongoing maintenance from 2026 through 2029.

According to a memo to the commission, Douglas County dispatchers already use a similar system for medical emergency calls, which allows them to more efficiently dispatch responders and resources to scenes and provide some care over the phone, including helping callers provide CPR. The memo said that Emergency Communications, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical and the Douglas County Fire Chiefs Association determined that a similar system was necessary for fire calls, as well.

The memo says that the new system would allow Emergency Communications to give instructions to help callers stay safe until help arrives, and that it would improve resource management for fire departments across the county.

The 2025 budget includes $160,000 for the purchase of this software, and additional funding will be included in future budgets to maintain the system. The memo said that the proposal was not submitted for bids because the software product is an “add-on feature” to the existing medical dispatch protocol software that the Emergency Communications Center already uses.

• Consider adopting a resolution to transfer remaining funds from the 2024 budget for Consolidated Fire District No. 1 to an equipment reserve fund. The approved 2024 budget included a transfer of $150,000 to the fund, and according to a memo in the agenda, the 2024 budget has a remaining amount of $404,939 that staff recommend transferring to the fund for a total 2024 year-end transfer amount of $554,939.

• Consider a letter of intent to participate in the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Healthy Families Outreach, Prevention and Early Intervention program. The letter included in the agenda says that the county intends to provide matching funds to “pull down federal funding for the program.” It says the “source for matching dollars will be from the county’s general fund, and Douglas County has adequate funding to provide up to $350,000 in matching dollars.”

A memo to commissioners from the county’s finance manager says the program helps identify families in need of preventive health services for their children, connects families to health care resources and works to prevent child abuse and neglect, among other things.

• Consider whether or not a proposed bridge replacement is necessary at North 1800 Road, also known as Farmer’s Turnpike, over Baldwin Creek; approve the plans and specifications prepared by the county engineer; and allow Public Works to solicit bids for the project. As the Journal-World reported, the Kansas Department of Transportation awarded the county a $1.4 million grant to replace the bridge due to its aging concrete and limited load capacity.

• Consider approving a tow service provider agreement, where local tow contractors participate in a tow rotation list used by the Emergency Communications Center staff. In 2024, eight tow operators submitted agreements. Staff met with the tow operators in January to discuss and review the annual agreement.

A memo in the agenda states that tow operators have expressed a desire to raise the maximum charge, since it is currently less than a call for a tow that does not come through the Emergency Communications Center. The last increase to the maximum charges was approved by the commission in 2023. However, an increase will not be considered at Wednesday’s meeting, and rates will remain unchanged for 2025.

• Hold a work session for the Heritage Conservation County and Sustainability Departments to present a department overview. The session is for informational purposes only, and no action will follow.

The County Commission’s work session will begin at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Douglas County Commission meeting room at 1100 Massachusetts St. The business meeting will follow at 5:30 p.m. The meeting will also be available via Zoom.