A budget that proposes a flat property tax rate, no new county tax-funded employees and a limited cushion for department requests for additional money, was proposed by County Manager Penny Postoak Ferguson at last Thursday’s county commission meeting.
Postoak Ferguson described it as a “very responsible budget” that maintains reserves needed to safeguard the county’s triple-A bond rating and services residents expect.
“It also holds the line a bit,” she said. “For 2026 I had to say no to a few requests,” from department heads. “But in many cases, it’s a ‘not right now.’”
Postoak Ferguson has been warning for the past couple of years that decreasing tax revenue is not going to continue to keep up with the county’s needs in the long run. Inflation, decreasing or slow-growing tax revenue, and an increasing and aging population have combined to put pressure on property taxes for essential services, she said.
In response, commissioners voted recently to put an extension of the existing quarter-cent public safety sales tax that was used to build the courthouse and medical examiner’s office on the November ballot this year. If voters approve it, however, that money can’t be collected until April 2027, so it does not figure in the 2026 budget.
Big takeaways from the preliminary budget plan
The proposed budget features:
- A total budget of $1.9 billion, with $1.39 billion in expenditures. That includes spending from sales and other taxes as well as fees and grants, and is not limited to property tax spending. The expenditures are a 1.45% increase from the 2025 budget.
- Reserves of $507.9 million. The reserve budget, which funds emergency spending, is at a level intended to preserve the county’s AAA rating from the three major rating agencies, Postoak Ferguson said.
- A flat mill, or property tax, levy of 24.125 mills. That’s broken down to 17.286 mills for the county taxing district, 3.816 mills for the library system and 3.023 mills for the park and recreation district.
Static tax rate but projected $85 increase for average homeowner
Commissioners have lowered the taxing rate several times in recent years, but the real taxes many residents pay has still gone up because of fast-rising home values since the pandemic.
The increases in home prices have begun to slow and may be returning to pre-pandemic levels, according to county staff.
Postoak Ferguson’s budget report noted that the average single-family home in the county now has an appraised value of $508,000.
Given increasing home values, the proposed static mill levy would still add about $85 to an average homeowner’s tax bill next year.
Increase of 52 employees, most paid through non-tax dollars
Overall, total expenditures for county departments that use property taxes for at least part of their operations is $557.5 million. When fees, grants and other taxes are removed, the county taxing district has $287.3 million budgeted in spending wholly funded by property taxes, the budget says.
The 2026 budget plans for a total workforce of 4,409.89 full-time equivalent employees. That’s an increase of 52.78 FTEs since the 2025 budget was adopted.
Most of the new positions are in the mental health department following its certification as a Community Behavioral Health Clinic, Postoak Ferguson said. All of the new positions in county government are funded by grants and fees. (The library and park systems have separate budgets and property tax levies.)
The budget also recommends a 4% compensation pool for county employees. This is the maximum amount available in the budget to accommodate 4% compensation adjustments for county staff, but it doesn’t mean all workers automatically get a raise.
A cloudy five-year budget forecast
No inflationary increases are written into the budget’s five-year forecast, said Budget and Financial Planning Director Robin Symes.
“The current five-year outlook shows revenue not keeping pace to fund the level of service Johnson County residents have grown to expect,” Symes said. “So as we look to the future there will need to be service-level changes or revenue enhancement,” to keep the reserves robust enough to maintain a good bond rating, she said.
Department requests for additional spending in the 2026 budget were not fully funded. Out of $18.5 million in total requests, only $3.3 million was included in the proposed budget.
Postoak Ferguson also pointed out the challenges of uncertain federal and state funding, as well as state legislative policies that have shifted more of the tax burden toward property taxes.
“Rather than suggesting sudden and random cuts,” the county is taking a strategic approach, she said, mentioning the use of an artificial intelligence platform to help analyze department efficiencies.
“It’s been a challenging one but I think we’ve put together something that I am proud as county manager to present to you as a package that works with the expectations you have and is responsible stewardship,” she said.
County leaders say JoCo feeling pinch from state
Commission Chair Mike Kelly said commissioners should look at the “holistic” picture the preliminary budget presents.
The county is considered an administrative arm of the state for such things as running elections and motor vehicle registration, he said, yet state lawmakers keep reducing sources of revenue the county can collect, such as personal property taxes and mortgage registration fees.
That shifts more of the burden to local property taxes, he said.
“There’s $18 million of additional requests just to keep the level of service that we have now and that the people of Johnson County overwhelmingly say they are satisfied with, and we have $3 million to fund it,” he said.
He also warned of the impact of federal budget cutting that “potentially has huge consequences,” on such things as Medicaid. “The (future) needs that people have might drastically change.”
The county taxing district makes up about 15% of a resident’s total tax bill. Parks and libraries make up another 5%, combined. A resident’s annual tax bill also includes levies from the public school district in which they reside, their municipality and Johnson County Community College.
What happens next?
The county manager’s presentation is only one step toward a final budget.
Next, commissioners will go over individual department budgets with administrators.
Budget open houses for the public are scheduled to take place on:
- Monday, June 9, at Corinth Library in Prairie Village,
- Tuesday, June 10, at Central Resource Library in Overland Park,
- Tuesday, June 17, at Lenexa City Center Library in Lenexa,
- Wednesday, June 18, at Blue Valley Library in Overland Park
- and Tuesday, June 24 at Gardner Library in Gardner.
The county commission is set to take a final vote on the 2026 budget on Aug. 28.
