ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
It is budget time for local governing entities, and that includes the City of Liberal.
The city's 2027 budget, which was approved at the Liberal City Commission’s Sept. 15 meeting, contains a proposed total budget amount of $69,366,550, a mill levy dollar amount of $9,270,919, and an estimated mill levy of 53.392 mills, based upon the July 1 estimated valuation. The final assessed valuation will be determined Nov. 1, and while the number of mills necessary to fund the budget’s dollar request is subject to change, the levied dollars are not expected to change. The City of Liberal is also expected to exceed the Revenue Neutral Rate for 2027.
Chief Financial Officer Brian Mannel said he is pleased with the budget that was put together.
“In the budget we submitted and got approved by the commission, we reduced our expense projections, but we still have been low on cash, and with that being said, part of the reason we've gotten to this point is over the course of several years we've remained low there,” Mannel said. “For 2025 and 2024, we did not increase the ad valorem tax, and were able to keep that neutral for basically two years in a row. Last year we did take the evaluation increases on, but a portion of that increase last year wasn't received because one of the large portions of that is from a entity that has an abatement that's pending. So really, the increase last year was really small, even with the evaluation increases. For the 2027 budget, when you account for that increase we have in the mill, part of that is not going to happen because of that pending tax exemption we expect to happen. The increase we have in actual dollars we expect to receive in 2027 from real estate taxes is roughly a 3 percent increase,, and that’s even below what some of the expectations are for inflation. I've seen a couple analysts project a 3.7 or 3.8 percent increase in social security benefits and things like that, and that's trying to keep pace with inflation. When all of that is considered, we're still staying relatively low on our expense side and trying to keep taxes down for the residents of the community.”
That goal, Mannel said, was met with the budget.
“We did trim expenses in total. I think it was by 1.87 percent. With that being said, we're still seeing some of those large increases the everyday consumer is seeing too,” Mannel said. “We all know fuel prices have gone through the roof, especially in the last six to eight months and we have several departments that use a lot of fuel for travel and other work like the Solid Waste Department and those guys. We just can't avoid those kind of increases, so that's why we felt the need to do a mill increase this year, so we could offset some of those expected increases we're having with items like fuel. We're going to have those kinds of increases throughout the city to keep our services at the same level we all expect. We've also had some other increases in other areas like insurance. Throughout the past several years, we haven’t really had that kind of increase in our revenue side, but we have been absorbing those kind of increases in fuel and insurance, so that's why we knew we needed to do some kind of moderate increase. When you consider everything, we’re actually below what they're gauging inflation to be, and we feel like we've done well keeping our expenses in check.”
There are some other changes made with this year’s budget compared to last year’s, Mannel said.
“We have absorbed some positions – there are some positions that had been unfilled in a few departments we just chose to not even budget due to them being unfilled for so long,” Mannel said. “We make do with the employees we have, and there are some positions where two or three people are taking on extra duties to try to make things work. There was a reduction in our payroll expense just because we're going to have to make do without having those positions filled. Another big change would be the increase in projected fuel costs and things like that, which is prudent given how much of an increase we've seen in that price. Those are the two probably that were the most noticeable in a year-over-year budget change.”
Mannel added there is always a lot of work that goes into putting the yearly budget together.
“The work usually starts in early spring, but by May is we're really starting to barrel into the real meat and potatoes of everything. In May is when we’re starting to work through budget projections, and each department director is sitting down, looking at where their numbers have been, where they think are their expenses are going, and what the revenues might be for those few enterprises that do have revenues,” Mannel said. “They're working through those processes for several weeks, and then we set the processes to meet with each of those departments and go through their budgets. Everybody knows we have trash, water, sewer, fire, police, etc., but there are many other departments like the Tourism Department or the Mid America Air Museum or entities like that, so there are a lot of different departments to bring into one big city budget. With all of that being said, a lot of it really gets rolling in May, June, which is when we're going through a lot of the process and meeting with commissioners once we get everything put into a more consolidated presentation for them to review. It all culminates with some stuff we have to submit with the county clerk as well that gets forwarded onto the state, but everything really gets done by around Oct. 1. In total, it’s about a five-plus months long process at that point, and everyone also has their other daily work to get done.”
Every year, Mannel said, the city’s priorities get updated when it comes to the budget.
“The projects really depends on the type of project and what circumstances are happening at that time. Right now, obviously, the first projects that's going to jump out is the water park, and many of those kinds of projects are funded through the 1-cent sales tax,” Mannel said. “But a lot of those projects are presented in a consolidated manner for the commission to review and kind of prioritize, so that's part of the process in preparing the budget on what is definitely needed and what’s more of a want. There are some other projects going on right now, like the bus barn that’s about to get finished. There are other projects coming down the road, and one of them that came up is the condition of Western Avenue. I know some people had noted some rough riding on it, especially on the shoulders, and those are discussed depending on where they want to prioritize projects. Some of them might be projects that won’t take place until two or three years out, but that gives us time to really plan out the financing and logistics and everything else.”
Overall, Mannel said, a major goal is to make sure the city is being responsible with the taxpayers’ money.
“The biggest focus is to try to keep our services at least maintain or improve them for the community, and with this modest increase in the mill, it allows us to continue to keep the level of staffing and projects and maintenance at the levels that we've had,” Mannel said. “At some point, if you don't keep up with inflation, your costs are so high you have to start cutting services you can provide. And if it still continues, at some point, you even may have to lay off employees. So this is a modest increase keeps us at that level of where we can continue to keep it. We never want to have to cut services to the community.”
