County Administrator David Johnston Presents 2025 Proposed Budget

County Administrator David Johnston Presents 2025 Proposed Budget

Published on August 02, 2024

Kansas City, KS - Last night, August 1, 2024, County Administrator David Johnston presented the 2025 Proposed City and County Budgets for adoption consideration during the 7 PM Full Commission meeting. This expedited presentation and proposed recommendations answered the call from the June 27, 2024, Commission vote (9-0) to not exceed revenue neutral for Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas.

Each year, the County Administrator works to create a proposed budget to be considered for adoption by the Full Commission. This year Administrator Johnston worked extremely closely with the Budget and Finance Departments, as well as all UG Departments to achieve budget recommendations that would adjust for not exceeding revenue neutral while committing to the four outlined Commission priorities.

During Johnston's presentation, he focused on the below key budget considerations for 2025:

• Statutory Requirement to Adopt a Balanced Budget
• Property Tax Relief (Revenue Neutral)
• Residential BPU Pilot Relief
• No use of fund balance to cover operating expenses
• Prioritized Employees - No layoffs (reduced vacant positions) & included cost of living adjustments
• No new general obligation debt to be issued in 2025 (not including enterprise funds)
  
  

Understanding the Revenue Neutral Rate

The Revenue Neutral Rate, as defined in KSA 79-2988, is a tax rate that will allow the government to receive the same amount of tax revenue despite changes in tax laws or property appraisal values. When property values increase, as experienced across Wyandotte County for the past several years, taxing jurisdictions (city, county, school districts, community college, etc.) will receive additional revenue.

A revenue neutral rate is when the taxing jurisdiction, in this case the UG, budgets the exact same amount of property tax revenue in dollars for the upcoming budget year as for the current year. If a revenue neutral rate is adopted, the UG budget process will have to factor in how to maintain or continue services without being able to budget for the rising costs of doing business and inflation.

2025 Budget Resources:

Review and Download the 2025 Proposed Budget Presentation Slides:

8.1.24-County-Administrator-David-Johnston-2025-Proposed-Budget-Slides.pdf(PDF, 4MB)

Check out Administrator Johnston's 2025 Proposed Budget Presentation Video

Check out the 2025 Budget Book that outlines the detailed City and County Budget Information and Numbers.

[Link]

Get Involved in the 2025 Budget Process

As budget discussions progress, community members and members of the media are invited to tune in to the remaining budget workshops.

• County Administrator Presented 2025 Proposed Budget August 1, 2024, at 7pm in the Commission Chambers of the Municipal Building.
• Budget Workshop - August 7, 2024, at 5pm to discuss the County Budget for 2025 to be held in the 5th Floor Conference Room of the Municipal Building
• Budget Workshop - August 8, 2024, at 5pm to discuss the City Budget for 2025 to be held in the 5th Floor Conference Room of the Municipal Building
• Budget Public Hearing - August 13, 2024, at 6pm in the Commission Chambers of the Municipal Building
• Commission Budget Adoption Date - August 15, 2024, at 7 PM in the Commission Chambers of the Municipal Building.

For more information about the Budget Department, including our online budget data, please visit: Budget - Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City (wycokck.org)

The public is invited to attend all of the above meetings in-person or remotely via Zoom. The meetings will be also broadcasted live via the UG YouTube page and UGTV- channel 2 spectrum cable channel.

For more information about upcoming meetings and the detailed agenda, please visit www.wycokck.org/clerk

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