Douglas County proposes no change to property tax levy while presenting FY2025–26 budget

Laurie Persch, chief finance officer for Douglas County, told a joint public hearing that the county is proposing no change to its property tax levy for fiscal year 2025–26 and summarized the county’s operating budget and reliance on property tax revenue.

Persch said the county’s proposed levy will remain at 0.29059 per $100 of assessed value and that property taxes account for nearly half of the county’s revenue. “Of our total revenues of 411,480,000, the property tax piece … a $195,800,000 is almost 50% of the revenue that we use to support all of the things that you expect … 9‑1‑1, sheriff, corrections, county attorney,” Persch said.

The county presented historical levy and assessed-value trends and noted assessed values rose 6.33% for the 2025 certified valuation. Using the certified 2025 taxable value Persch showed the levy that would produce the same dollar amount as last year would be about 0.27328; the county’s proposed tax request of $215,192,800 uses the unchanged levy of 0.29059. Persch described the county’s total budget excluding ARPA as $584,400,000, 2.2% above last year’s modified budget.

Persch also summarized general fund spending parameters set by the county board (a 3% salary cap and 1.5% for other increases) and said the general fund budget (excluding ARPA) is $295,900,000, about 3.5% above last year. She noted ARPA funds of $52,200,000 are one‑time and excluded from the ongoing budget total and reminded the public that ARPA dollars must be spent by Dec. 31, 2026.

The county clerk reiterated that no votes occur during the joint hearing and that final tax levies will be adopted by each political subdivision by Sept. 30. Persch said the final hearing on the county’s tax rate will be held at the Douglas County Board meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 30.