Commissioners reach agreement on 2026 budget with decrease of 0.629 mills

The Board of County Commissioners reached a tentative agreement July 16 on an approximately $202.6 million budget for 2026. Commissioners agreed on a mill levy of 40.669 mills, a decrease of 0.629 mills from last year.

For the fourth consecutive year, the County Commission has lowered the mill levy. In 2024, the Commission approved a reduction of 2.9 mills for the 2025 budget, building on previous reductions of 2.0 mills in 2023 and 1.2 mills in 2022. These reductions total 6.7 mills over four years. One mill is one dollar per $1,000 assessed value.

The 2026 budget includes a 5.7% increase in assessed property valuation, compared to 6.89% the previous year.

Commissioners Patrick Kelly, Shannon Reid, Erica Anderson, Gene Dorsey and Karen Willey reviewed more than 60 funding requests totaling $12.9 million from county departments and community agencies.

Community projects that received funding include:

• $500,000 for Tenants to Homeowners to build five small houses in partnership with Peaslee Tech and the University of Kansas’ Dirt Works Studio and $247,000 for Cardinal Housing Network for capital improvements at 1126 Ohio, where it will provide supportive housing for women in recovery. Both projects expand supportive housing, an area of focus in the community’s strategic plan to end chronic homelessness, A Place for Everyone.
• Two initiatives championed by the anti-poverty plank of the Community Health Improvement Plan, which are $100,000 for community childcare scholarships and $62,500 for youth pre-apprenticeships with Peaslee Tech.
• $321,032 to offset a cut in federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant funds for 12 permanent supportive housing units for chronically homeless individuals.
• $108,000 to increase compensation for Children in Need of Care (CINC) panel attorneys.

Commissioners continue to support the expansion of operations at Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical for a new Station 6 as well as an ambulance replacement. The 2026 allocation includes $1.5 million in expanded funding to support the addition of a fully staffed ambulance for Station 6.

County departments receiving additional funds include:

•  $497,500 for contracted pavement maintenance in Public Works.
• Five full-time equivalent staff to support the expanded Judicial and Law Enforcement Center and new Public Safety Building, including court security deputies, a maintenance technician and custodial staff.
• One network administrator for the Sheriff’s Office.
• One IT analyst for Information Technology.

Commissioners also approved approximately $2.8 million for market, merit and longevity pay for county employees.

Commissioners transferred $5.4 million to the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) fund to support facilities, road and bridge projects. Commissioners will review projects in the 2026-2030 CIP during their business meeting at 5:30 p.m. July 30.

They will discuss the 2026 operating budget for Consolidated Fire District No. 1 during a work session at 4 p.m. July 30.

The Commission held more than 20 hours of meetings and deliberations during its review of the 2026 proposed budget. Video recordings are available on the county’s YouTube channel and website at dgcoks.gov/county-commission.

The 2026 budget will be adopted during a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 27 during the Commission business meeting.

For information about the budget, visit https://dgcoks.gov/administration/budget.