ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Fiscal Year 2027 began July 1 in Seward County, and county leaders have until Oct. 1 to approve a budget for both the county and its Rural Fire District.
County commissioners had until 5 p.m. Monday to decide if they wanted to exceed this year’s Revenue Neutral Rate mill levy, the levy at which the county would collect the same amount of revenue as FY 2026.
In a special meeting Monday, commissioners voted 4-0, with Commissioner John Mettlen absent, of the intention to exceed the RNR for the county and to approve the RNR for Rural Fire.
The county’s RNR is 39.1 mills, down 2.1 mills, a number based on increased valuation, and commissioners opted to cap the new rate at 42.2 mills, just 3 mills higher than the RNR.
This came about 10 months after the commission voted 3-2 to exceed the FY 2026 RNR by about 17 mills. After the resignation of three commissioners, Scott Carr, Tammy Sutherland-Abbott and Presephoni Fuller, and the installation of three new commissioners, Mettlen, Jairo Vazquez and Clay Lounderback, a vote was later taken to return the county to the RNR for that year.
County Clerk Stacia Long said valuation numbers include the value of all protested properties, and she said with an exact number not known at this time, she had concerns about not exceeding the RNR.
“We don’t know what the valuation’s going to be in November because we don’t know about the exemption or the Board of Tax Appeals case,” she said. “We could lose $25 million in valuation if we hear from the Board of Tax Appeals.”
Commission Chairman Steve Helm said an exact mill levy can never be determined until the county’s valuation is determined in November.
Administrator April Warden said the valuation numbers Long gave include more than just the ongoing BOTA case with Conestoga Energy.
“The deputy county clerk sent out information letting the commission know and letting other tax entities know those other organizations that have protested their taxes and are going before the Board of Tax Appeals,” Warden said. “The last conversation I had with our county appraiser is she also thought the Board of Tax Appeals was approximately two years behind on hearing the newest cases that have been filed.”
Warden said the estimated valuation likewise includes all valuation prior to protests.
“It’s the amount that’s on the books currently,” she said.
Long reminded commissioners that even though the vote was for an intention to exceed the RNR, this does not mean they have to do so.
“If it turns out our valuation’s great and we do not have to exceed, we don’t have to,” she said. “However, if you don’t approve to exceed, you cannot exceed after today.”
Commission Vice Chairman Todd Stanton said the board could also place a cap on how far the RNR could be exceeded, which is ultimately what was done. Warden reminded commissioners the notice of RNR intent included a blank where a rate needed to be given to set the maximum mill levy at for FY 2027.
Louderback said having a cap still allowed the county to have flexibility should valuation numbers change and a higher rate is needed.
“If we put a three-mill levy cap we can’t go through, we know there’s our threshold, and we’re able to move forward,” he said.
Warden said many area agencies are making moves similar to the county because of the possible need to collect more revenue.
“If you raise more than $1 than what you did last year, you have to notify the clerk you intend to exceed,” she said. “Most entitites do just because they don’t know what to expect when values aren’t certified until November.”
As for Rural Fire’s assessed valuation, Warden said those numbers went down, causing a slight increase in the district’s RNR.
“Their valuation went from $122,636,661 to $120,628,946,” she said. “Just to stay revenue neutral, their mill levy would increase to 8.332 from 8.209, which is before accounting for any of the payments under protest.”
Warden said commissioners would still need to notify Long they do not intend to exceed the RNR for Rural Fire.
“We will provide her with one for Seward County, one for Rural Fire,” she said. “We would need two separate motions – one for the county and one for Rural Fire.”
Stanton briefly revisited the Rural Fire budget.
“If we’re going to take out X million dollars, even if we leave it the same, it’s going to signficantly reduce their operating budget,” he said. “Is that what we intend to do?”
Helm said valuation numbers can go either up or down between now and November.
“That’s something we have never been able to control,” he said. “The city can’t control it. The school and the college can’t control it, but we have to go into it knowing it could change a little based on what the final vaulation numbers are.”
Warden said leaving Rural Fire’s levy at the RNR will not change the dollar amount of revenue the district would collect in FY 2027.
“That allows you to collect what you did in tax dollars last year,” she said. “That’s the same dollar amount.”
With the maximum mill levy for the county set at 42.2 mills with Monday’s vote, a public hearing is also set to take place at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21, in the commission chambers in the Seward County Administration Building.
