Johnson County commissioners on Friday held joint public hearings and voted to adopt fiscal year 2026 budgets and associated tax levies for Johnson County Fire District 1, Fire District 2 and the newly formed Johnson County consolidated Fire District 1.

The Board of County Commissioners, sitting in each board role, opened public hearings for each taxing district, received a presentation from Jim Francis, fire services administrator, heard no public comment, and then approved the resolutions authorizing levies that exceed the revenue-neutral rate and the proposed FY2026 budgets. Votes were recorded in each governing role: the Fire District 1 board approved its levy and budget 4-0; the Fire District 2 board and the consolidated Fire District 1 each approved their levy and budget with 7-0 votes.

The action followed a staff presentation outlining current levy calculations and major revenue and expense assumptions. For District 1, Francis said the consolidated mill levy within the District 1 area including bond debt was about 16.900 mills and that the proposed consolidation and use of fund balance would reduce that to about 16.266 mills for affected residents outside the City of Gardner, which does not pay one of the district’s bond issues. For District 2, Francis reported a present tax levy of about 15.264 mills for most residents (with a lower 13.724 mills for the Miami County portion of Spring Hill, which does not pay the district bond debt) and an adjusted levy near 15.016 mills after the consolidation adjustments described in the presentation.

The staff presentation also listed dollar-level revenue and expenditure items that underlie the budgets: about $14,954,956 in general fund ad valorem tax revenue (with a published general fund rate of 13.724 mills and an estimated post-exemption rate around 13.768 mills), slightly more than $1 million in motor vehicle and related taxes, two Miami County agreements totaling just under $500,000, an anticipated transfer from District 1 fund balance of about $2,300,000 and an anticipated District 2 fund balance of about $2,700,000, $525,000 in payments in lieu of taxes and roughly $300,000 in interest revenue. On the expenditure side Francis showed roughly $10.8 million in employee expenses, contractual services in the $637,500 range, a roughly $3,000,006 Overland Park contract line, and an unclassified contractual line of about $5,000,000 representing transfers into the consolidated district; total expenditures were shown as $22,365,305.

Formal actions taken during the meeting included:
- Fire District 1: adoption of Resolution No. 2025-0003 authorizing levies exceeding the revenue-neutral rate for debt service (1.339 mills for Debt Service Bond A and 1.049 mills for Debt Service Bond B) and adoption of Resolution No. 2025-0004 approving the FY2026 budget for Fire District 1. The Fire District 1 board vote to adopt the levy and the budget was recorded 4 in favor, 0 opposed (Mark Berdolski Aye; Brian Walker Aye; Mike Casey Aye; Chairman D'Urvetta Aye).
- Fire District 2: adoption of Resolution No. 2025-2 authorizing levies exceeding the revenue-neutral rate for district debt service (0.534 mills for Bond H and 0.753 mills for Bond I) and adoption of Resolution No. 2025-3 approving the FY2026 budget for Fire District 2. The Fire District 2 governing role (Board of County Commissioners acting as the district board) recorded 7 in favor, 0 opposed (Commissioners Fast; Myers; Brewer; Hanslick; Ashcraft; Allen Brand; Chairman Mike Kelly).
- Johnson County consolidated Fire District 1: adoption of Resolution No. 2025-1 authorizing a levy for the consolidated district general fund (recorded as exceeding the revenue-neutral rate of 0 mills in the staff resolution language) and adoption of Resolution No. 2025-2 approving the FY2026 budget for the consolidated district. The consolidated-district vote, taken with the Board of County Commissioners sitting as the governing board, was 7 in favor, 0 opposed (same commission roll as above).

The public hearings produced no public testimony; the clerk noted one registrant (Charlotte O’Hara) had signed up but was not present. Board members exchanged brief remarks of thanks to the fire district board members and staff for their work on the consolidation and budget process. Commissioner Ashcraft commented that the meeting sequence and repeated hearings were an unusual but legally advised set of formalities tied to the consolidation; other commissioners thanked staff (named in the meeting) and the district boards for their service.

Discussion items recorded in the staff presentation and in commissioners’ remarks clarified several implementation and transitional details: Gardner residents do not pay one of District 1’s bond issues (which affects their levy calculation); Miami County residents in the Spring Hill portion do not pay certain district bond debt; transfers of fund balance from existing districts into the consolidated district were counted as revenue for FY2026 and were central to the property tax reductions shown for many residents; and ongoing oversight of the consolidated entity was expected to shift district boards to advisory roles after consolidation takes effect on Jan. 1, 2026.

No amendments to the proposed budgets or levies were made on the floor during the meeting. The boards closed each public hearing after voting, and the meeting adjourned.

(Amounts and mill rates above are those presented on the record by county staff during the public presentation; the record shows some levy figures presented as approximate or subject to pending exemptions.)