Appropriations committee signs off on Department of Revenue budget amid mineral production adjustments

The House Appropriations Committee adopted the committee recommendations for the Kansas Department of Revenue’s fiscal 2025–2026 budgets after hearing adjustments tied to special county mineral production tax receipts and license-plate process changes.

Chairperson Wasser told the committee the department’s FY2025 budget is approximately $127 million — about 1% over 2024 — and that the Legislative Budget Committee and the committee concurred with deletions the agency proposed because special county mineral production tax receipts (oil and gas related) were lower than previously projected. The committee also noted deletions totaling $17 million from special revenue funds for data processing supplies in 2025 after agency adjustments and a deleted consensus revenue amount (noted in testimony as $500,000 but discussed with comma/formatting confusion in the record).

Wasser and committee members discussed an item surfaced during the prior year’s conference committee: a potential $9 million reimbursement to county treasurers for functions the state now performs digitally. Testimony indicated the request had not been brought to the committee and the department had not presented distribution details.

For FY2026 the department’s request reflects a 3% reduction primarily from lower transfers from the special county mineral production tax fund and deletion of a $4.9 million license-plate project line because plates are now produced digitally; that deletion was partially offset by an $8.1 million addition for computer software and programming in administration and motor vehicle divisions. The committee approved the recommendations as presented and moved them on to the full appropriations committee.