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We’ve reported several times how the proposed 3.6 mill property tax rate increase at Lawrence City Hall would be the largest for the city in at least 50 years. But if you are into history — or counting dollars — there is another part of that story you should know too.

It is happening just a few blocks south of City Hall at the Douglas County Courthouse. The County Commission is proposing a big tax rate cut, but we haven’t yet put that rate cut into any historical context.

Let’s change that. The proposed 2.9 mill decrease for Douglas County government would be the largest property rate decline by the county in almost 30 years. The proposed rate cut is second only to the 4.36 mill decrease that the county implemented in 1995. That 1995 rate decline should come with an asterisk, though, as the county dropped the mill levy as part of a deal to get voters to approve a new 1-cent countywide sales tax.

Furthermore, this year’s proposed property tax rate decrease would be the county’s third consecutive year of property tax rate declines. At one one point, the county had an unwelcome record on property tax rates. From 2002 to 2022, Douglas County experienced the largest property tax rate increase of any urban county in Kansas, I reported at the time. Douglas County’s tax rate during that two decade period increased 70%, while the state’s other urban counties had increased 8%.

But it has been a different story lately. Since 2021, Douglas County’s property tax mill levy will have declined by nearly 13%, assuming that the 2024 proposed mill levy rate is adopted this week.

The county’s mill levy is an important one because it impacts every property owner in the county. Thus the city of Lawrence’s property tax rate increase is going to be mitigated some by the county’s decrease. And some places — like Baldwin City — are going to see a significant property tax rate decline.

Let’s take a look at some big-picture tax totals for different areas of Douglas County. All numbers are based on proposed maximum tax rates as submitted to the county clerk’s office last month. Those numbers can go down, and often do, but for simplicity’s sake I’m using the original proposed maximums to do all comparisons. Also note that the combined totals are approximations. I’m including the major property tax entities in each community, but not capturing some of the lesser property tax entities, such as cemetery and drainage districts.

Total tax rates

This is the number most property owners care the most about. What’s the total tax bill? Here’s a look at the approximate total and how much it is proposed to change from a year ago.

• Baldwin City: 138.2 mills. Down 7.4 mills or 5%.

• Eudora: 153.5 mills. Down 2.2 mills or 1.4%

• Lawrence: 130.5 mills. Up 0.8 of a mill or 0.7%

• Lecompton: 131.9 mills. Up 2.4 mills or 1.9%

All those numbers are for property owners inside those city limits and include city, county, school and other miscellaneous taxes like library, fire and recreation districts, where applicable. None of the numbers take into account increases in your property value. Take Eudora for instance, if your property values went up by more than 1.4%, you are going to see the dollar value of your total tax bill go up, even though your total rate went down.

But, in Baldwin City, there may be some property owners who see an actual decline in the dollar value of their tax bills because I suspect there are some properties that did not see their property values go up by 5%. Of course, everybody’s property value changes differently, which is one of the reasons property taxes are complex. It also makes it impossible for us to say everybody’s seeing a decrease or everybody is seeing an increase.

Individual tax rates

A little more straight forward are the proposed mill levy rates of each government entity. The county clerk’s office is required by state law to put together a sheet showing the maximum proposed mill levies of each taxing entity in the county. I took the time to compare those proposed maximum mill levies to the actual mill levies for each entity last year. Again, I didn’t look at cemetery or drainage districts, but I got most other major taxing entities in the county.

The results are that five of the 22 taxing entities I reviewed proposed declines in their property tax rates from a year ago. They are:

• Baldwin City: 44.3 mills, down 4.5 or 9.2%

• Douglas County: 41.2 mills, down 2.9 or 6.5%

• Marion Township: 20.0 mills, down 1.1 or 5.4%

• Eudora Library district: 3.1 mills, down 0.2 or 6.6%

• Northeast Kansas Library district: 1.134 mills, down 0.004 of a mill or 0.35%

Seven of the 22 taxing entities proposed steady mill levies from a year ago. They are:

• Eudora Township: 15.4 mills

• Grant Township: 23.0 mills

• Kanwaka Township: 13.68 mills

• Lecompton Township: 12.7 mills

• Willow Springs Township: 10.3 mills

• Baldwin School District: 52.59 mills

• Consolidated Fire District 1: 5.5 mills

The remaining 10 entities proposed increased mill levies from a year ago. They are:

• City of Lecompton: 29.7 mills, up 5.0 or 20.5%

• City of Lawrence: 36.8 mills, up 3.6 or 10.8%

• Clinton Township: 12.9 mills, 0.8 or 7.3%

• City of Eudora: 39.5 mills, up 0.5 or 1.2%

• Eudora School District: 69.6 mills, up 0.4 or 0.59%

• Palmyra Township: 11.3 mills, up 0.2 or 2.5%

• Wakarusa Township: 9.8 mills, up 0.2 or 2.3%

• Lawrence School District: 52.4 mills, up 0.2 or 0.4%

• Perry-Lecompton School District: 55.4 mills, up 0.2 or 0.48%

• Baldwin City Recreation Commission: 5.0 mills, up 0.009 or 0.18%

Lastly, seeing how much an entity has lowered or raised the property tax rate is useful, but remember that the total matters too. For example, the city of Lawrence has been getting the most pushback from residents about its proposed property tax increase. I’m not judging whether that is fair or not, but it is worth noting that the total tax rate in Lawrence is proposed to be the lowest of any of the cities in the county. However, housing prices also are different in each community, which impacts your total tax bill.

Let’s finish with this list, which takes the total combined tax rate for each city and applies that rate to the average home value in each city, as determined by the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey. The dollar amount is the approximate, total property tax bill that average home would pay.

• Baldwin City: 138 mills. Average home value: $216,700. Taxes on average: $3,439

• Eudora: 153 mills. Average home value: $217,100. Taxes on average: $3,819

• Lawrence: 130 mills. Average home value: $247,300. Taxes on average: $3,697

• Lecompton: 131 mills. Average home value: $166,100. Taxes on average: $2,502