A $1.82 billion final 2025 budget for Johnson County services, parks and library was approved by county commissioners.
It comes with an estimated taxing rate of 24.086 mills, which is a 0.25-mill reduction from the current year but will still result in higher property tax bills for most residents because of increasing property values.
Some of the budget’s main points
- The total budget — which includes fee-supported services like wastewater treatment and parks along with property-tax-supported items — consists of $1.37 billion in expenditures and $448.6 million in reserves.
- The mill levy breakdown is 17.259 mills for the county taxing district, 3.809 mills for the library system and 3.018 mills for the park district.
- The total mill levy is expected to increase by November as a result of appeals of property valuations. The final mill rate is estimated to be 24.110 mills.
- The budget has $381.9 million in its five-year plan for capital improvements. Funds are only appropriated for 2025.
- The maximum number of full-time equivalent positions will be 4,355.61, an increase of 25, mostly in the Mental Health and ambulance departments.
- County employees will have a 1% market adjustment in salaries and a merit pool increase of 3.5%. The MED-ACT responders and Sheriff’s Office step plans are also funded.
The budget approval Thursday was the final step in a process that began in March with warnings from County Manager Penny Postoak Ferguson that spending could become unsustainable in the next five years without careful attention to finding savings.
Vote caps of months of planning
Much of the discussion Thursday focused on how well that effort had gone.
As the meeting began, Kelly noted several areas where cost savings had been found, including a grant source for Meals on Wheels, savings in a roof project that were used to fully fund energy efficiencies and savings that resulted in funding for tactical emergency medical technicians to have body cameras.
Commissioner Shirley Allenbrand said population growth is responsible for some of the increase. She said getting the budget to “revenue neutral” — meaning the county’s taxing rate was set in a way that higher property values would not result in higher tax bills — couldn’t be done without losing federal and state funding in the process.
Commissioner Janeé Hanzlick pointed out that the county operating budget is a relatively small portion of an individual’s property tax bill. She added that many county services are required by state law.
Commissioner Michael Ashcraft acknowledged that major budget reductions are unlikely at this late stage in the process, but said commissioners and staff didn’t give themselves enough time to apply a “scalpel” to department planning.
“It is quite a slog each year to go through the budget process and quite honestly that’s how it should be,” he said.
“I do not embrace the concept of revenue neutral but when we get to this point, it’s pretty much locked in,” Ashcraft said. Last-minute amendments are sometimes the only option, and “that is not ideal,” he continued.
Commissioner Jeff Meyers said, “We’ve had months and months and months and months to discuss, to research,” and understand the budget. “Things are pretty much the way they are going to be.”
No last-minute amendments were offered, and commissioners passed the budget in separate votes for the county taxing district, libraries and parks.
The vote was the same each time: 5-2, with Ashcraft and Commissioner Charlotte O’Hara dissenting.
Public comments
Four people spoke during public comments. Like many of those who showed up to a budget public hearing on Aug. 20, their consensus was that the county had not tried hard enough to cut expenses.
“Johnson Countians are screaming for mercy from your incessant tax increases,” said Ben Hobert of Westwood Hills.
Phil Bauer of Leawood said the county’s property taxes have gone up faster than inflation. As a retiree, he said, the main solution is to withdraw more money from his retirement account to pay taxes.
“That money is finite,” he said. “All I have to do is die in five years because I don’t have enough money to keep going.”
O’Hara said the commission could have done more by cutting middle management and she mentioned spending on a new public health building, a homeless shelter, regional preparations for the World Cup and expansion of road and fire services in the De Soto area, where Panasonic is building a massive new electric vehicle battery plant.
“We have not even begun to try bringing the budget under control,” she said.
Chair Mike Kelly responded, “I don’t know where you’ve been the last six months,” the commission has been working on the budget. “You’ve been here four years, what have you done? We can sit here and complain or we can come to the table and work together on a solution.”
Kelly said many of the budget items O’Hara listed were one-time expenditures, some using federal COVID relief money, that would not help with the ongoing budget strains.
“To say that is a solution shows either misunderstanding or spreading myths about what is really possible for a future of the budget,” he said.
What happens next
The final mill levy will be set in October. County residents should receive tax statements after Nov. 1.
More on the budget can be found on the county website.
