County: Raise mill levy now to cover next five years

Jackson County Clerk Kathy Mick told county department heads Monday to look at their department’s needs for the next five years when preparing their 2017 department budget requests as officials brace for the upcoming state-imposed tax lid.

During a department head meeting Monday, Mick, along with the Jackson County Commissioners, outlined the current state of the county budget and how it will be adversely affected with the implementation of the new state tax lid next year.

This is the last year the county is allowed to raise its budget beyond the Consumer Price Index without having a public vote, it was reported. 

If the tax lid was already in place for this coming budget year, the county would have to cut $107,489 from its existing budget to stay within the tax lid limit or have a public vote to raise taxes, Mick said. 

Budgets for law enforcement and emergency services, however, are exempt from the tax lid, Mick said, and those departments are allowed to raise their budgets at any time. 

“So when we ask for your budget, we want you to look at the next five years,” she said. 

County officials are discussing increasing the mill levy four to five mills this year in order to save a large portion of those mills back and redistribute them throughout the next five years.

Officials hope that, at the end of those five years, the tax lid will be changed or eliminated or the county will be able to pass a vote to increase taxes.

“At that point, we will be broke. Our cash carryovers and capital outlay would be depleted,” Mick said. “It’s not a tax lid, it’s a tax cut. The Consumer Price Index only increased $9,500 this year and that’s not enough to keep the county in business.”

Mick estimated that the road and bridge department would need to raise its budget by at least two mills to cover equipment and rock expenses for the next five years. It would take 1.3 mills to give each county employee a $100 a month raise for one year, it was reported.

Mick said since the county’s assessed valuation increased this past year, in order to keep the county’s tax levy the same as the previous year, the mill rate would actually have to decrease by .9 mills. 

Mick and the commissioners are proposing that the tax levy, however, be increased this year in order to save funds back for the next five years. 

Commissioner Janet Zwonitzer said that some counties are increasing their mill levies by 10 to 15 mills this year in order to save funds back for the coming years when the tax lid is in place and it may be difficult to get the public to vote to raise taxes.

“We’ve tried to hold the budget in the past, and in doing so, we’ve been able to manage,” Zwonitzer said. “But to keep it going and manage our departments, the state is forcing us to increase our mill levy. So we need realistic numbers from your departments so we know what to plan for.”

The commissioners and Mick are especially concerned with how the tax lid will affect the road and bridge department.

Counties with a township road system – as opposed to a county road system like Jackson County – will not be effected by the tax lid, Mick said. 

“They’ll still be able to buy rock and equipment without a problem,” Mick said. “This tax lid is not fair for all the counties People aren’t going to want to vote for a tax increase.”

Mick said that the county had considered switching to a township road system years ago where rock is budgeted by township based on recommendations from a township board. 

Many Jackson County towns are also proposing mill levy increases, five mills or higher, this budget season as officials prepare for spending restrictions related to the future tax lid, it has been reported.

Also during the department meeting, employee insurance was also briefly discussed. It was reported that the employee’s share of health insurance through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas is expected to increase in January.