Seward County treasurer authorized to open temporary account to process R&R refund checks

The Seward County Board of Commissioners voted Feb. 2 to allow the county treasurer to open a temporary checking account dedicated to processing revenue-neutral (R&R) tax refund checks, Treasurer Mary Rose told the board.

“As of Jan. 23, 689 payments were taken for the 2025 taxes,” Mary Rose said, explaining that a high volume of potential refund checks would be generated and that a separate account would make reconciliation and customer service easier. Her deputy, Annabelle Klein Smith, told commissioners the separate account would simplify tracking outstanding checks and answering taxpayer questions.

Annabelle Klein Smith said the special account would make it easier to select and reconcile groups of amended tax statements and to identify outstanding refunds, and that uncashed checks would be sent to the Kansas State Treasurer as unclaimed funds after 180 days.

Commissioners questioned whether the county’s vendor (CIC) could apply refunds as credits to customers’ second-half tax bills to avoid issuing large numbers of checks; staff said the vendor advised that the process requires refund checks and that groupings by taxpayer name or ID might reduce the total number of checks. Commissioners approved a motion to allow the treasurer to open the account and to keep it open for 180 days after the last check is issued; the motion passed unanimously.

The treasurer’s office also said the account would be temporary and that remaining unclaimed checks would be forwarded to the Kansas State Treasurer for reclamation after the statutory period.

Next steps: the treasurer will open the account and work with county staff and the software vendor to finalize the mechanics of check issuance and reconciliation; any further procedural changes would return to the commission for approval if required.