County looking to exceed RNR with 2027 budget

Following a public hearing last week on exceeding the revenue neutral rate for the 2027 budget, the Jackson County Commissioners are proposing a 1.595-mill rate increase to fund next year’s county budget.

The commissioners recently approved a motion to publish a proposed county budget for next year funded by 72.012 mills, up from the 70.417 mills used to fund the 2026 budget. To remain revenue neutral, the 2027 budget would need to be set at 68.316 mills.

State statute defines the revenue neutral rate (RNR) as the tax rate for the current year that would generate the same amount of property-tax revenue as was levied in the previous year, using the current year’s taxable assessed valuation.

If an entity’s overall property valuation increases, the entity would have to lower its mill levy to remain at the RNR.

More than 100 people attended the revenue neutral rate hearing at the Courthouse on Aug. 26, which lasted an hour and 40 minutes.

“I’ve always believed that the mill levy should never take huge jumps or huge decreases. A stable mill levy with slow increases and decreases is what we, as a body, strive for,” Commission Chairman Mark Pruett said at the RNR hearing.

The county’s budget for the current year is revenue neutral, but it came with a cost, Pruett said.

“Revenue neutral forces you to spend down your cash reserves to the point of becoming a critical situation. We are at that point of a critical situation,” he said.

For more on this and other stories, please log in to your holtonrecorder.net account and select “Sept. 2, 2026” under “E-Editions.”