ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
With an adopted budget including a 14.8-mill increase over the Revenue Neutral Rate for Seward County, discussions continue regarding how to fix it, and the budget was much of the discussion during the county commission’s most recent meeting on Nov. 3.
At the beginning of the meeting, as part of a list of items added to the agenda, Commission Vice Chair Steve Helm added a budget discussion to the agenda, and when commissioners and staff got to the item, Helm’s first concern was how much of the 14.8-mill increase would go to paying back Arkalon Energy as part of an appraisal dispute between that company and the county.
“What of those mills goes to the possible return to Arkalon, and what goes to the general expenses?” he said.
Administrator April Warden said $1 million had been set back in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget, and another $1.5 million had been set aside for FY 2026 to help payback a possible total of nearly $6 million. She estimated the $1.5 million equated to about 5.37 mills.
“All your other expenditures are outlined in the budged that was proposed at the budget hearing,” she said. “Those increases are itemized throughout your 2026 budget.”
Both Helm and Warden said $600,000 was put in the Road and Bridge budget to pay back a bond for road projects made earlier this year.
“You do have a bond payment that will come out of the special highway fund, and then you are doing a $600,000 transfer in the 2026 budget as well,” Warden said. “That will come out of the Road and Bridge general operating fund and be transferred in to the special highway fund for the additional work you guys want done. That bond payment’s already scheduled to come out of the special highway fund.”
Helm then visited the Rural Fire district’s budget, which is a separate taxing district. That district likewise saw a raise its mill levy of around eight mills over the RNR.
Warden said part of that raise was to give Fire Chief Andrew Barkley back one of the positions cut in the FY 2025 budget, which was revenue neutral. Money from the Rural Fire budget likewise will be used in part to help pay back Arkalon.
“We had not set aside any money for a payback in Rural Fire,” Warden said. “They are a separate taxing district, and they are affected by the ethanol plant payback. We are having to budget for that as well.”
Helm said commissioners had previously decided to come back in early 2026 to look at making cuts to both the county and the Rural Fire District budget. Chairman Scott Carr said spending too needed to be addressed.
“We’ve got to look at it all as a total,” Carr said.
The county will likely not vote on further cuts until February, as they will wait for final numbers from what is known as the 13th month.
“We usually don’t close that 13th month until March,” Warden said. “You usually go through the months of January and February. We close that, and we’re able to provide you with definite numbers after that 13th month period.”
Helm said the county’s taxpayers deserve better than a double digit increase in the mill levy.
“It’s insane what we did to the public,” he said.
Commissioner Presephoni Fuller said, though, looking at projections for the 13th month does not hurt either.
“We can look at some type of reduction, and when it comes to that, we’re working smart, not harder,” she said.
Commissioner Todd Stanton asked Warden if the county’s standard deviation between January and March was small. Warden said this depends on a few factors.
“The reason why we do the 13th month is we have encumbrances,” Warden said. “It depends on the number of encumbrances we would have that time, but we would be able to estimate those for you as well.”
Stanton then asked Helm what his objective was with a work session he was calling for in the near future.
“What are we looking to do?” Stanton said.
Helm said the objective was to make further cuts to the FY 2026 budget.
“We just can’t continue down the route we’re going,” he said. “We’re finally after decades making an effort to collect delinquent taxes. It’s pathetic for decades, that has not been done. I would like to see the commission commit all of the delinquent taxes we collect to the payback fund. When I refer to decades, I’m referring to personal property, oil and gas, real estate. Hopefully, we get that better than what it has been in in prior commissions.”
Warden said any delinquent taxes collected would go into the county’s tax fund, and the county treasurer would be in charge of dispersing that money.
“As those taxes are coming in, those are going to be paid out through the distribution to all the different taxing entities,” she said.
Helm said solutions need to be found as soon as possible.
“I just think we need to stay on top of this and try to resolve it,” he said.
