Pittsburg commission approves 2026 budget, votes to exceed Kansas revenue-neutral rate

The Pittsburg City Commission voted Sept. 9 to exceed the Kansas statutory “revenue neutral” rate and adopted the city’s 2026 budget after a public hearing that drew numerous residents who opposed higher taxes.

City staff and commissioners said the adopted budget reflects rising costs for services, ongoing utility projects and employee compensation; opponents urged the commission to hold the line on taxes and use existing reserves instead.

City staff explained the technical reason for the difference between the county-provided revenue-neutral calculation and the figure the city used in its planning. Jay (city staff) said the county’s June valuation included property listed as taxable while a hospital ownership change and other “changes of use” filings would remove roughly $15.26 million from the tax rolls before Jan. 1, 2026. Because the county’s published worksheet came with that valuation at the time the city prepared its budget, staff recalculated what they called a more realistic revenue-neutral rate and presented a higher number — 47.475 mills — for use in the city’s budget planning. Jay said, “we’re not raising the mill rates at all. We’re proposing no mill rate increase whatsoever,” and described the change as a correction for the hospital and some other…