Commission sets 40.7‑mill ceiling for 2026 budget notice after lengthy debate on staffing appeals

The Saline County Board of Commissioners on July 15 directed staff to prepare a revenue‑neutral form using a 40.7 mill ceiling for the county's 2026 budget notice, giving administrators limited room to lower the proposed levy before final adoption.

County Administrator Philip Smith told commissioners the number transmitted to the county clerk sets a ceiling for later budget work: "You can always go down. You can't go up. So whatever number we give to Jamie after the conclusion of today, that's the ceiling, but there's no floor," he said.

The action came after an extended budget discussion and two appeals from county staff asking the commission to restore or add positions that administration had not recommended. The county clerk appealed for an additional elections‑focused staff position, citing the workload of managing roughly 250 voting machines, chain‑of‑custody requirements and increasingly technical election security and records demands. The clerk said the request is to restore a sixth position in the office.

A separate appeal from the human resources office asked for a full‑time payroll support position to handle mandated reporting, daily payroll operations and succession planning. The HR presenter said the position is "not a nice to have position. We need it for day to day operations, mandated reporting, annual responsibilities, growing burdens on existing staff, succession planning, and to ensure smooth operations for illnesses or absences." The presenter said part‑time or cross‑training solutions are insufficient given the training time and continuity needs for payroll processing.

Administrator Smith provided mill‑rate illustrations for the commission. Under the administrator's proposed budget the county's proposed mill levy would be 41.571. Funding only the elections appeal (without corresponding cuts elsewhere) would raise the proposed levy to 41.647; funding only the payroll appeal would raise it to 41.663; funding both positions without offsets would raise the levy to 41.739. Smith said the county's current mill levy is 40.112 and that reaching a true revenue‑neutral rate would require larger reductions (he calculated about $1,858,000 in cuts to reach the formal revenue‑neutral figure).

Commissioners debated tradeoffs between holding the levy steady, the scale of cuts that would be required, and expected public reaction to different published ceilings. Several commissioners urged substantial cuts to outside agency funding, capital projects and other line items to avoid raising property taxes. One commissioner described looking for roughly $800,000–$1,000,000 in reductions; Smith later calculated that to hold the current levy exactly at 40.112 would require about $1,059,860 in cuts from the administrator's proposed budget.

After discussion the board voted to direct staff to prepare a new revenue‑neutral notice using a 40.7 mill ceiling and to authorize the chair to sign that notice for transmittal to the county clerk. Smith said staff will continue working to identify possible reductions and return with recommendations ahead of the public hearing (tentatively scheduled for Sept. 9) and final adoption by Oct. 1.

Why it matters: the ceiling that is transmitted to the clerk determines the top end of the public notice and frames community expectations. Commissioners said they wanted a number that allowed some flexibility downward while minimizing the appearance that the board had accepted a large tax increase.

Next steps: staff will publish the 40.7 mill notice, compile options to lower the proposed levy and present reduction scenarios to the commission in follow‑up budget sessions ahead of the public hearing.