Johnson County commissioners approve 2026 budgets and levies for two fire districts and a consolidated district

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…