Bourbon County commissioners weigh budget cuts, restore several appropriations and set interim levy direction

Bourbon County commissioners spent the bulk of a lengthy meeting debating changes to a draft 2026 budget, agreeing to restore several previously reduced appropriations, flagging a missed 2024 payment to Tri Valley and directing staff to finish technical edits before the next meeting.

The commission decided during the session to leave the county's allocation for intellectual disabilities at the $37,000 figure included in the budget advisory committee's draft and to restore the county's annual contribution to the county fair board to $10,000 after hearing the fair board's statute and expenditures. Commissioners also agreed to set the elderly appropriations at $48.06 (a statutory benchmark discussed during the meeting) pending final numeric edits.

Why it matters: the commission's choices affect the property tax levy, the county's cash reserves and local nonprofits and service providers that rely on annual appropriations. Commissioners repeatedly emphasized that statutes limit how much they can cut certain items and that some appropriations are “shall” obligations rather than discretionary payments.

Commissioners and staff traced several concrete budget items during the discussion. County staff reported a missed Tri Valley appropriation for 2024 of $13,003.41 that left Tri Valley underpaid ($41,002.50 received instead of the typical $55,000). The clerk recommended making up the shortfall in 2025 with a budget amendment and noted that the funds exist as cash carryover. As the clerk put it, the money “is a cash carryover. So the money's there. Just needs to be paid out.”

The commission repeatedly reviewed whether cuts proposed by the Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) complied with statutory requirements. Commissioners asked staff to research statutes governing mental health, intellectual disabilities and other programs; staff repeatedly cited Kansas statutory chapters and specific sections during the conversation and agreed to follow up on whether a levy or resolution is required before altering a prior funding level.

On levy strategy, commissioners discussed a range of scenarios that would lower the mill levy by cutting expenditures or that would preserve or raise reserves by maintaining levy levels. Staff ran numerical “what‑if” scenarios on the published draft and advisory drafts; by the end of the meeting they had a working scenario that combined modest personnel and commodity adjustments with targeted restorations, and staff agreed to prepare a printed version of the scenario and to continue work at the next meeting.

What was decided and next steps: by consensus the commission: - Restored the fair board appropriation to $10,000 for the coming budget year. - Left the intellectual disabilities appropriation at $37,000 for now while staff researches statutory constraints and possible required levies or resolutions. - Asked staff to prepare a budget amendment to make Tri Valley whole for the $13,003.41 missed payment from 2024 and to show the amendment in the 2025/2026 numbers.

Staff also agreed to re-run the neighborhood revitalization program (NRP) calculations and other linked schedules so commissioners can see final mill and reserve numbers. The body did not adopt a final levy or final budget and scheduled follow‑up work and a reconvening of the budget review next Monday.

Ending: Commissioners closed the session after directing staff to prepare the revised spreadsheets, statutory references and a printed packet for the next meeting so the board can finalize the levy and budget numbers.