Riley County commissioners transfer $5.15 million from CIP to hold mill levy roughly flat; budget cuts and multi-week review to follow

Riley County commissioners on July 13 approved a $5,150,000 transfer from the countys capital improvement program (CIP) to the general fund to keep the 2026 mill levy essentially flat while they continue multi-week budget deliberations.

Britney Phillips, the countys budget and finance officer, told the board the transfer would be used to offset the effect of updated assessed valuations and bring the revenue-neutral calculation in line with last year. "By state statute, we are required to submit this to the county clerk's office by July 20th of every year indicating whether we are going to exceed revenue neutral or not," Phillips said when presenting the worksheet and timeline for required notices and mailings.

The action follows a clerks report earlier in the meeting that a corrected June valuation tied to a downtown tax-increment financing (TIF) district removed roughly $17 million from the taxable base and created additional pressure on revenue expectations. Commissioners debated options including trimming appropriations and reassessing CIP priorities. Commissioner S6 (functional label used in lieu of a name in the transcript) said the transfer should be used as a short-term measure while departments work through longer-term cuts and process changes.

"If you guys are okay with this, I will fix the revenue-neutral intent really quick, and then I'll print that off for you guys to pass today," Phillips said as she prepared the updated paperwork. Chair (S1) then asked for consensus: "Do we have an agreement by the board by consensus to transfer the 5,150,000 from CIP to..." and commissioners signaled agreement by voice and brief comment.

The board did not adopt a set of permanent program cuts at the meeting. Instead, commissioners directed a stepped process of departmental reviews, more detailed line-item presentations and public budget hearings this fall. Phillips said the countys formal budget hearing is scheduled for Sept. 10; work sessions and departmental briefings will occur beforehand.

What happens next: staff will circulate updated paperwork for signatures and continue department-level budget sessions. Commissioners emphasized that longer-term structural decisions will require clearer priorities and possibly fewer appropriations or program changes next year, but they framed the CIP transfer as a one-time move to avoid a sharp mill-levy increase while planning continues.