Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the County Fair Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Fair board asks county to restore maintenance funding; commissioners keep statutory fair payment in draft budget
Summary
Atchison County Fair Board representative outlined maintenance needs for 2026 and asked the commission to restore a $5,000 maintenance line in addition to the statutory fair payment. Finance staff confirmed the statutory $10,000 fair payment and discussed returning a $5,000 maintenance request to the draft budget.
Janice Reese, representing the Atchison County Fair Board, told commissioners on June 3 that the fair needs maintenance funding to repair water lines, toilets and barn roofs and asked the county to restore a maintenance appropriation.
Reese said the fair has relied heavily on volunteers but had two recent water-line failures that required emergency repairs and that funds from last year’s fundraiser were already committed to immediate repairs. She asked the commission to consider returning a $5,000 maintenance line in addition to the statutory payment the county provides for fair operations.
Finance Director told the commission historical practice had been to include two line items—one for the fair under KSA 2-129 and one for fair maintenance—totaling $15,000 in earlier years but that the 2025 statutory line was set at $10,000 after prior changes. The director and commissioners discussed returning $5,000 for maintenance to the 2026 draft budget while leaving the statutory $10,000 payment in place.
“No maintenance [line] … would put us back to where we’ve been for several years,” Reese said during the presentation. Commissioners and staff agreed that preserving the statutory $10,000 fair payment and adding $5,000 for maintenance would restore prior levels of county support for the fair’s operating and maintenance needs.
Reese outlined specific needs: replacement of the main water line in the cattle barns, several blown toilets that required portable toilets for events, gutter replacement between the swine and goat/sheep barns, and a five‑year plan to repaint metal barn roofs. She said volunteers historically complete many improvements but that some work requires paid contractors.
The finance director indicated the $10,000 statutory payment will remain in the draft budget and that staff would add the $5,000 maintenance line for commissioners’ consideration in the upcoming budget workshop. Commissioners did not take a final, recorded vote on the fair allocation during the June 3 meeting; the matter will be reflected in the draft 2026 budget process.
