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County staff report: Pratt County unemployment edges up; housing study shows aging stock and commuter flows
Summary
County staff reviewed new state unemployment figures showing Pratt County at 3.7% for February, summarized a local housing study showing an aging housing stock and commuter patterns, and reviewed recent state budget and tax actions affecting county programs and conservation districts.
Pratt County staff briefed commissioners on a range of economic and policy developments affecting the county, including rising local unemployment, housing-market data and recent activity in the Kansas Legislature that could change funding available to local programs.
Heather (county staff) told the commission that Kansas’ February unemployment rate was 3.8 percent and Pratt County’s rate rose to 3.7 percent — up from 2.1 percent in February 2022, 2.5 percent in 2023 and 3.0 percent in 2024 — representing about 170 people unemployed in the county. She said the county is close to the statewide rate, which is unusual compared with recent years.
Heather also summarized highlights from a local housing study: about 1,800 people commute into Pratt County for work daily while roughly 1,900 residents commute out; 2,400 people live and work in the county; 113 houses were listed in 2024 with an average market time of 55 days and median listing price near $150,000; roughly 30 percent of housing stock was built before 1939 and only a small share of units were constructed after 1990. She said only one new housing unit was recorded in 2024 and eight in 2023.
On state-level policy, Heather said the Legislature passed a 1.5-mill statewide property-tax reduction (1.0 mill earmarked for regents universities’ building maintenance and 0.5 mill for correctional facilities and state hospitals) and approved an increase in the maximum annual conservation district distribution from $25,000 to $50,000 with a 2-for-1 state matching structure in one of the bills. She said state water-plan funding also saw a bipartisan increase that could affect local water issues, and that other tax bills — including a so-called “ratchet” income-tax mechanism and an Astra-related county budget timing bill — had mixed results in the Legislature.
Heather said the governor had 10 days after receipt to sign or veto the budget package and that the county expected summer timing for the final details. She asked commissioners to continue advocacy at KDOT for local highway priorities.
Ending: Commissioners heard the update and asked staff to track local sales tax data and follow up on budget impacts to county programs as state actions are finalized.
