McPHERSON — The Board of County Commissioners approved the county’s 2026 budget on Thursday and adopted a resolution to exceed the revenue‑neutral rate by one mill, a move the county administrator and appraiser described at a public hearing.

Rick Weade, county administrator, told the board the approved mill‑levy increase is one mill above last year and equates to a 3.24% increase in the county portion of the mill levy. County appraiser Stacy said the county appraiser’s office sets property valuations; assessed values rose about 2.78% this year. Weade said one mill is roughly $11.50 per $100,000 of market value.

Weade and other county staff cited several drivers for the higher levy: ongoing county building remodel work (a project the county expects to finance largely from reserves, with an estimated final cost “close to $7,500,000”), a multi‑year bridge program with several million dollars of anticipated needs, court security and a possible third courtroom to accommodate a magistrate judge and jury duty logistics, and other infrastructure and insurance costs related to recent hail damage.

At the public hearing on rural fire districts and the county budget, officials also approved a series of rural fire district resolutions allowing the districts to exceed revenue‑neutral rates; separate motions adopted budgets for rural fire districts 7, 8, 9 and 10. After county staff presented the overall budget, the board adopted resolution 2025‑18 to exceed the county revenue‑neutral rate, and then voted to adopt the 2026 county budget.

Weade told the board department‑level budget summaries will be published online within a few days and described main general‑fund categories as personnel, contractual services, commodities and capital outlay. He also noted the county plans an employee wage study in 2026 to examine competitiveness and retention.

Chairman Becker and the other commissioners voted in favor of the resolution and the budget. The board recorded the motion to adopt resolution 2025‑18 and then to adopt the 2026 county budget; both measures passed by voice vote.

The county administrator said the budget documents and department summaries will be available to the public for review online.