Wyandotte County commission votes to exceed revenue-neutral rate for 2026 budget

The Unified Government Board of Commissioners voted 7–3 Tuesday to approve an ordinance and resolution authorizing the governing body to exceed the revenue-neutral rate for the proposed 2026 combined City and County budgets.

Budget Director Reginald Lindsey presented the proposed 2026 unified budget as a $509,000,000 plan that combines city and county funds and includes a recommended two‑mill increase in addition to expected assessed‑value growth. "The 2026 budget that was proposed by county administrator Johnston is a $509,000,000 budget," Lindsey told the commission during the hearing.

The vote followed a nearly three‑hour public comment period in which dozens of residents, community groups and nonprofit leaders urged either that commissioners hold the line at revenue neutral or invest more in public health, affordable housing and services for seniors. Commissioners who supported exceeding revenue neutral said the additional revenue is needed to avoid deeper structural deficits and to maintain essential services.

Lindsey walked the commission through the revenue scenarios the budget office prepared: a revenue‑neutral city general fund would produce about $174 million in city tax revenues and a $182 million expense level, creating a structural imbalance of roughly $8.6 million and lowering the city fund balance toward 14 percent. The proposed budget assumes additional assessed valuation plus two mills, producing approximately $181 million in city revenues, shrinking the structural gap and yielding an estimated 18.5 percent fund balance in 2026. On the county side, a revenue‑neutral view showed a structural imbalance of about $10.4 million; the proposed county budget with two additional mills would narrow that gap to a modest positive balance, according to staff projections.

Commissioners voted on a single motion that covered both the city and county levies. In the roll call on the motion to adopt the ordinance and resolution approving the exceedance, the votes were recorded as follows: Tom Burrows — no; Townsend — yes; Burns — yes; Ramirez — yes; Hill — yes; Kane — yes; Lopez — no; Stites — no; Davis — yes; Bynum — yes. The final tally was 7–3 in favor.

Votes at a glance: - Motion: "Ordinance and resolution approving the Unified Government exceeding the revenue-neutral rate for both the City of Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County, Kansas for the tax year 2026." Mover: Ron King. Second: Commissioner Bynum. Outcome: approved, 7–3 (Burrows, Lopez, Stites opposed). Legal threshold/notes: motion adopted by majority vote; additional taxing entities (school districts, library, community college) set their own levies and may affect final taxpayer bills.

The commission also heard staff explain practical impacts on homeowners: with the proposed combination of assessed‑value growth and the two mills on both sides, staff estimated an increase of roughly $197 annually for a $200,000 home when both city and county levies are aggregated. Budget staff reminded the public that the notice mailed to property owners reflected the maximum mills the commission could consider; the budget proposal before the commission reflected two additional mills rather than the larger notice amount.

The commission scheduled additional budget workshops and action items during the statutory process. Lindsey noted upcoming steps including an 11th budget workshop and a scheduled vote on budget action items later in the week.

The vote concludes the public hearing phase before the commission moves to final budget actions; the ordinance authorizes the governing body to adopt a mill levy above the revenue‑neutral calculation when the commission later sets the final mill levies and adopts the budget.

Ending: Commissioners said they expect additional line‑item briefings and workshops in the coming days; the budget office told the commission the next firm action items are scheduled for later in the week and for the September meetings where related taxing entities will adopt their own budgets.