photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

County Commissioner Karen Willey is pictured on Monday, July 13, 2026 during budget deliberations.

Douglas County commissioners expressed interest in allocating $1.5 million for a planned youth mental health crisis facility during their 2027 budget deliberations on Monday.

Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center asked the county for the $1.5 million for its Judge Jean Shepherd Youth Recovery Center at 3500 Clinton Place. According to Bert Nash, when the facility is complete, it will offer 24/7 care, short-term stabilization and outpatient services for patients under the age of 18. As the Journal-World reported, Bert Nash expects the center will serve more than 2,000 youth in its first year.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

County Commissioner Gene Dorsey is pictured on Monday, July 13, 2026 during budget deliberations.

While a majority of commissioners supported funding the entire request, Commissioner Karen Willey said she wanted to have further discussions with Bert Nash about the Youth Recovery Center project and the status of another capital project.

Bert Nash announced earlier this year that it would be stepping away from developing and operating the Rockledge project – a planned permanent supportive housing and social services facility. The roughly two-dozen-unit Rockledge project, which has received $558,000 from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund over multiple years, has missed its construction deadline, and Lawrence city commissioners have deferred a decision on whether or not to claw back funds from the project.

And that project doesn’t just have city funding. It also has about $2.5 million in county funding and could have a $2.5 million federal HOME-ARP grant. But that grant is dependent on it securing its other financing for the project, as the Journal-World reported.

“I really felt like this needed some conversation,” Willey said. “… We’ve been waiting a year for any kind of partial resolution or plan on the previous capital funding that came to Bert Nash for the Rockledge project. And that feels very uncomfortable for me to send additional dollars in that direction until we have some answers.”

Commissioner Patrick Kelly said what made him comfortable with the request was that the $1.5 million from the county would be awarded just to help get Bert Nash to its fundraising goal once it received all of the other funding for the project.

Kelly added that he thought the situation surrounding the Rockledge project would be resolved by the time Bert Nash had used the county’s funding for the Youth Recovery Center.

“There’s a real need in the community,” Kelly said. “And when you look at the fund balance that we are currently holding in the behavioral sales tax, it seems like something we had the ability to do.”

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

County Commissioner Patrick Kelly is pictured on Monday, July 13, 2026 during budget deliberations.

County commissioners also decided to fund a $500,000 one-time request from the Baldwin City Economic Development Corporation to help build a new childcare facility.

The 8,770-square-foot building would accommodate 43 newborn to 2.5-year-old children. It will also accommodate 45 children ages 2.5 through 6 years old, currently enrolled in Rainbow Preschool.

Commissioner Shannon Reid said that while she was supportive of funding Baldwin City EDC’s entire request, she thought there would need to be conversations with the city government about funding for the new childcare facility in the future.

“I would encourage that if this project really moves forward … as it seems to be doing, that there’s real consideration for how the Baldwin City government is asked to invest in it as well,” Reid said.

CUTTING AND RESTORING FUNDING

County commissioners voted not to provide any funding in 2027 to Douglas County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), a nonprofit that trains volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children in the court and child welfare systems.

As the Journal-World reported, last week, county commissioners expressed an interest in revisiting their funding allocations to community partners and determining if they need as much county funding as they have in the past.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

County Commissioner Erica Anderson is pictured on Monday, July 13, 2026 during budget deliberations.

There was originally $20,000 anticipated to go toward the nonprofit next year, but commissioners said there have been ongoing conversations with CASA to continue cutting the county’s contribution as the organization grew a larger fund balance.

“I really appreciate the work that many of our nonprofits do, including CASA,” Kelly said. “But I do think there’s a time when we need to think about when a nonprofit has matured to a certain level … We’ve been slowly reducing Douglas County’s investment in CASA, and I think it’s always hard to stop funding something.”

While county commissioners discussed other potential funding cuts for partner organizations on Monday, such as Cottonwood Inc. and Douglas County Visiting Nurses Association, they ultimately decided to hold off on additional reductions until they could establish the criteria for determining where those cuts should be made and potentially discussing cuts with partners.

Last year during budget deliberations, county commissioners cut $60,000 from the county’s 2026 contribution to KU Innovation Park, citing concerns that several long-term tenants remained in the nonprofit business incubator beyond its intended purpose of supporting startups while not paying taxes.

However, last week, the nonprofit proposed a voluntary payment in lieu of taxes agreement to give tax-like payments to the county for its mature, long-term tenants. Douglas County would collect the payments and distribute them to local taxing jurisdictions “in the same manner as property tax revenues are distributed,” a memo to commissioners said.

A majority of county commissioners decided to give the $60,000 back to KU Innovation Park. Commissioner Erica Anderson said the proposed agreement was a direct response to county commissioners’ concerns communicated last year, and it was a large request KU Innovation Park made happen.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Douglas County staff has proposed a $201.5 million budget, holding the property tax rate flat at 40.669 mills, as the Journal-World reported. One mill is equal to one dollar per $1,000 of a property’s assessed value. With the proposed budget, a homeowner with a $600,000 home would pay $2,805 in property taxes to the county under the proposed mill levy. A $300,000 home would have a bill of $1,405 and a $200,000 home would incur $935 in taxes.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

County Commissioner Shannon Reid is pictured Monday, July 13, 2026 during budget deliberations.

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 increased by 4.9% in 2026, compared to a 5.7% increase the previous year.

County commissioners will continue with 2027 budget deliberations on Tuesday. The public is welcome to attend in person or join virtually on Zoom. There is no opportunity for public comments during deliberations. The details from the meeting and recordings will be available on the county’s YouTube page.

On Wednesday, county commissioners will consider notifying the county clerk of the intent to exceed the revenue neutral rate – the property tax rate that generates the exact same amount of property tax revenue as the prior year – for the county’s budget and CFD No. 1’s budget.

The county’s revenue neutral rate is 38.605 mills for the 2027 budget, and CFD No. 1’s rate is 5.652 mills. There will be public hearings ahead of both votes during the County Commission’s business meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the Douglas County Commission meeting room, 1100 Massachusetts St. The meeting will also be available via Zoom.

The full 2027 proposed budget can be accessed on the county’s website at dgcoks.gov/administration/budget.