Harvey County commissioners vote to exceed revenue-neutral rate ahead of 2026 budget

The Harvey County Board of Commissioners voted to adopt a resolution to exceed the revenue-neutral rate as part of the process for the county—s 2026 budget during a public hearing on the county budget. The resolution, introduced during the revenue-neutral-rate portion of the meeting, clears the way for a proposed levy that would produce more property-tax revenue than would be raised under the revenue-neutral calculation.

County staff explained the revenue-neutral rate, commonly called RNR, as "a tax rate used in property taxation that would generate the exact same amount of property tax revenue in dollars as was levied in the previous tax year, but using current tax year's total assessed valuation," and said that because Harvey County—s assessed valuation rose for 2026, the RNR millage would be lower than the current millage. County presenter Kevin (staff member) read the definition aloud during the hearing and walked through the calculation showing that, to keep revenue identical to last year, mills would have to drop when valuations rise.

The county—s 2025 tax levy on the presentation was shown as roughly $17 million with a current mill rate in the low 43-mill range; staff said the recommended 2026 levy is roughly $19 million and the proposed millage is higher than the revenue-neutral millage calculated for 2026. At the microphone, resident Gail Clark asked for the dollar amount by which the county—s levy would exceed the revenue-neutral rate; staff later reviewed the numbers and said the difference is about $1.7 million. Clark pressed the board to explain how that excess revenue might be applied; the chair noted the public-hearing format is for comment rather than extended Q&A.

After public comment closed, a commissioner moved to adopt "resolution 2025-23 to exceed the revenue-neutral rate for the 2026 Harvey County budget," and another commissioner seconded. The chair called for the vote; commissioners responded "aye," and the chair said the motion passed. County staff noted that state rules require the RNR resolution vote be recorded.

Commissioners and staff emphasized that adopting the resolution permits but does not require the final budget to remain at that level: once the budget is adopted later in the process it may be set lower but cannot be set higher than the resolution allows. The board scheduled a work session to review public comments and expected to take final action on the budget the following week.

The hearing record and the resolution vote will be part of the statutory RNR process the county followed this year.