By Lucky Kidd
RENO COUNTY, Kan. — After discussions and revisions that took over 3 ½ hours to complete, Reno County Commissioners on a 4-1 vote approved a 2025 budget that will be just over a mill above the Revenue Neutral Rate.
During the marathon session Commissioners made an additional $200,000 in cuts, including a $40,000 cut in Reno County Museum funding. Also cut were two of three “discretionary” positions included in the published budget and $1,000 from the $4,000 requested by the Reno County Farmers Market.
The Farmers Market funding had been eliminated from the budget, as moves have been made to reduce if not eliminate funds going to outside agencies. Sparkie Bagley from the Farmers Market asked the Commission to reinstate that funding, which is used to pay the musicians who perform at the Saturday morning market in the Ontjes Pavilion at 2nd and Washington.
Commissioner John Whitesel, who voted against both the budget and resolutions to exceed the Revenue Neutral Rate for the county, and two rural fire districts it serves as the governing body for. Whitsel had sought to cut expenditures significantly to bring property tax expenditures to at or below what was raised from it in 2024.
With the cuts that were made, the 2025 levy was set at a projected 35.491 mills, down slightly from the 2024 tax rate. The levy will raise around $754,000 more for the county next year than for this year.
