photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

While fine-tuning budget allocations for 2026, Douglas County commissioners are considering a slight reduction to the proposed property tax rate.

While decisions about the mill levy – or the property tax rate – have not been finalized yet, at deliberations on Wednesday morning, county commissioners expressed interest in lowering the mill levy from the proposed 41.298 to 40.669 mills, a reduction of 0.628 mills. One mill is equal to $1 of property tax per $1,000 of assessed value.

County Administrator Sarah Plinsky said she plans to confirm with staff that all funding allocation decisions made by the commissioners are accurately reflected in the proposed mill levy. She intends to revisit the mill levy during Wednesday evening’s regular business meeting.

As the Journal-World reported, at Wednesday’s business meeting, county commissioners will consider authorizing staff to notify the county clerk of the intent to exceed the revenue neutral rate for 2026. According to a memo to county commissioners, that rate would be 38.958 mills. The revenue neutral rate is the mill levy required to raise the same amount of property tax revenue as the prior year, using the current year assessed valuation amount.

On Wednesday, Plinsky recommended to commissioners to have the maximum mill levy sit at what was initially proposed by county staff – 41.298 mills – to account for any calculation errors that may arise in the new rate. Once the county sets its maximum mill levy, it can be lowered, but it cannot be raised.

This is a developing story and will be updated.