photo by: Journal-World

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

Douglas County staff is proposing a $191.4 million budget for 2026 that holds the property tax rate flat, and the county administrator said Thursday that many partner agencies are making “serious, substantial requests” for extra funding to offset federal cuts.

Last year, county commissioners approved a $201 million 2025 budget with a 2.911-mill property tax rate decrease, for a total mill levy of 41.298 mills. That was the largest property tax rate decrease by the county in almost 30 years and the third consecutive year of mill levy reductions.

The proposed budget for 2026 was released Thursday, and its mill levy would stay at 41.298 mills.

“I’m glad that we were able to stay flat and what I was able to recommend,” County Administrator Sarah Plinsky told the Journal-World. “I feel that this budget provides for our existing services and maintains those.”

One mill is one dollar per $1,000 of a property’s assessed value. A homeowner with a $600,000 property would pay $2,850 in property taxes to the county under the proposed rate. A $300,000 home would have a bill of $1,425, while a $200,000 home would incur $950 in taxes.

The tax a property owner pays is determined by both the mill levy and the property’s assessed value, so even if tax rates stay steady or are lowered, rising property values might still cause tax bills to go up for many residents. The total assessed property valuation in Douglas County increased 5.7% in 2025, compared to 6.8% in the previous year.

Property taxes account for about 75% of the county’s revenues. The county’s revenues from sales taxes are also projected to stay flat for 2026, at $9.5 million, but Plinsky said that number may change once more is known about the local economic impact of the FIFA World Cup that will take place next year.

Partner agencies ask for help

It will ultimately be up to the County Commission to decide whether to make changes to the recommended plan, and Plinsky expects one topic in particular to loom large this year — the uncertainty that many organizations and programs in the county are facing because of cuts at the federal level.

“I think this year is a lot more about the possible impact of these federal cuts,” Plinsky said.

Plinsky said several community partners have raised concerns about programs at risk due to federal cuts, and the proposed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” the budget reconciliation measure currently working its way through Congress, could further threaten some of those initiatives if passed.

Plinsky said one initiative that the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” would threaten is a permanent supportive housing grant project funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. According to the proposed county budget, the project is requesting $561,804 to stay afloat for the remainder of 2025 and 2026 and provide housing for 12 chronically homeless individuals.

“It provides 12 units of supportive housing for chronic homeless individuals with serious and persistent mental illness, (and) they will be homeless if this is not funded,” Plinsky said.

Other federal cuts have affected the Center for Supportive Communities, which was massively impacted by cuts to AmeriCorps, Plinsky said. As the Journal-World reported, the federal cuts to AmeriCorps affected more than 200 volunteers across the state.

“They have asked for some serious, substantial supplemental requests to stay operational,” Plinsky said. The nonprofit has filed three additional funding requests that together total $274,000.

The Sexual Trauma & Abuse Care Center has also requested a one-time funding amount of $300,000 to make up for cuts to the Victims of Crime Act, which provides support to local programs that assist crime victims and was once the organization’s most stable and reliable funding source. The program has been cut 35% nationwide over the last two years, the budget request said, and further reductions are expected in 2025.

Fire Medical and Bert Nash

In addition, county commissioners have been meeting with Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical regarding cuts from the City of Lawrence, which asked the department to create a plan for $1.5 million to $1.9 million in reductions in April, as the Journal-World reported.

The proposed budget includes funding for LDCFM to restore a portion of those reductions. The proposal from staff would raise the percentage of Fire Medical’s services that the county pays for from the current 36% to 38.25%. This increase in funding will keep many of LDCFM’s current resource levels steady, including seven 24-hour ambulances, six battalion chief positions and a training lieutenant.

If the county did nothing, the number of full-time Fire Medical positions that would be cut would be 18, but the changes in the proposed budget would require only 10 positions to be cut. Due to existing vacancies on staff, no existing LDCFM employees would be laid off, according to a press release from Douglas County.

But Plinsky said this shift would only be temporary until the county can meet with the city regarding the two local governments’ agreement on LDCFM, which outlines their responsibilities and duties. She said the agreement will not be discussed with city staff until both the city and county budgets have been adopted for 2026.

“It’s a one-year deal,” Plinsky said. “… We still do not have a governance agreement with the City of Lawrence for 2026 for Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical. We look to our governance agreement to really set these percentages moving forward.”

In addition, one of the county’s largest community partners, Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, has experienced financial challenges and currently is on track for an annual loss of $2.1 million. The former CEO of Bert Nash, Patrick Schmitz announced his immediate resignation earlier this week, and Kirsten Watkins was announced as interim CEO the same day.

The proposed budget outlines that Bert Nash is seeking $500,000 in gap funding to address the challenges to its behavioral health services, specifically outpatient therapy services. There are also two other requests for additional funding for the Treatment & Recovery Center, with $604,305 in 2025 and $1,249,424 next year.

“We’re going to continue to talk to staff and the board at Bert Nash between now and the budget hearings and help them be as prepared as possible when they walk into this first day of hearings,” Plinsky said. “… Now, with the transition of leadership, my staff stands to support the Bert Nash board and the staff.”

Agency breakdown and what’s next

The press release said the 2026 proposed budget would include $16.5 million in funding for more than 40 local agencies and nonprofits, and they are divided into five categories:

• Behavioral health and substance use disorders – $10.3 million

• At-risk and targeted populations, which includes funding for partners like Cottonwood, Independence Inc. and the Senior Resource Center – $2.4 million

• Health and human services, which includes allocations toward partners like the Lawrence Community Shelter, Just Food and the Lawrence Humane Society – $1.8 million

• Heritage and land management, which is funding for departments like Douglas County Extension and the Conservation District – $1.1 million

• Economic development, which includes funding towards the Douglas County Economic Development Corporation, Peaslee Tech and more – $736,000

County commissioners will also review more than 60 additional funding requests from county departments and agencies totaling approximately $8.5 million that were not all included in the proposed budget.

Public hearings on the budget will be held from 9 a.m. to noon from Monday, July 7, through Thursday, July 10, in the Douglas County Commission meeting room at 1100 Massachusetts St. People can attend either in person or via Zoom. Meeting details and recordings will be available on the county’s website. Budget deliberations by the commissioners will begin at 9 a.m. on Monday, July 14.

There will also be additional hearings for the five-year Capital Improvement Plan and Douglas County Consolidated Fire District No. 1, which are scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug 6.

The County Commission is anticipated to adopt the 2026 budget during a public hearing at its regular business meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 27.

To read the full proposed 2026 budget, visit Douglas County’s Budget and Finance webpage.