photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Douglas County commissioners meet on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.

Douglas County commissioners landed on a roughly $199.2 million budget for 2027 on Wednesday that lowers the property tax rate – if approved next month.

After a week and a half of hearings and deliberations, county commissioners finalized their priorities for next year’s budget on Wednesday. The mill levy – or property tax rate – is set at 40.286 mills. One mill is equal to $1 per $1,000 of a property’s assessed value.

That mill levy represents a reduction of 0.383 mills from the proposed 2027 budget county staff presented earlier this month. The budget is not final, and it is scheduled to be adopted following a public hearing next month.

If approved, this would be the fifth consecutive year county commissioners have lowered the mill levy. Commissioners have reduced the mill levy by a combined 7.112 mills since 2023, lowering the rate from 47.419 to 40.286.

As the Journal-World reported, county commissioners achieved the mill levy reduction by moving some ongoing expenses to the county’s behavioral health tax fund to reduce pressure on the general fund. In addition, commissioners decided to lower the property tax delinquency rate from 2% to 1.5%, assuming a higher rate of tax collections.

County commissioners have said they want to increase the mill levy for CFD No. 1 to fund a staffing expansion, which currently sits at 6 mills. To fund 10 additional staff members, commissioners are planning to increase the mill levy to 9.830 mills.

Any property tax increase for CFD No. 1 would not be countywide. The increase would only apply to properties located in the fire district, which was formed in 2020 with the consolidation of township fire departments in Wakarusa, Kanwaka, Eudora, Clinton and Lecompton townships.

County commissioners also unanimously voted to notify the county clerk of the intent to exceed the revenue neutral rate for the county’s budget and Consolidated Fire District No. 1’s budget on Wednesday.

The revenue neutral rate – the property tax rate that would generate the same amount of property tax revenue as the previous year – for the county is 38.605 mills for the 2027 budget. If county commissioners wanted a revenue-neutral budget, they would have needed to reduce the mill levy by over 2 mills compared to the budget county staff proposed earlier this month. CFD No. 1’s revenue neutral rate is 5.652 mills.

While county commissioners will be exceeding the revenue neutral rate for both budgets, the property tax rates are not yet final. Commissioners are scheduled to adopt the county’s budget and CFD No. 1’s budget following a public hearing on Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 5:30 p.m.

An additional hearing is scheduled at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22 for the county’s five-year Capital Improvement Plan.

IN OTHER BUSINESS, COMMISSIONERS:

• Discussed the findings of a comprehensive review completed by consulting firm Clarion Associates of the county’s zoning and subdivision regulations, as the Journal-World reported. The report is intended to serve as a roadmap for future updates. While it doesn’t change any regulations, it identifies strengths, weaknesses and opportunities to modernize the code through a future public process. Commissioners did not take any action following the presentation, as it was for informational purposes only.