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Budget workshop: Reno County staff outline cuts needed to hold mill levy flat and propose 5% pay increase
Summary
County administration and department directors reviewed the FY2027 budget. Commissioners heard that 1 mill equals about $817,349 and that holding the mill flat would require roughly $1.978M in cuts; the administration proposed a 5% pay increase (≈$240,000 per 1%), with discussion about its impact on recruitment and retention.
Reno County administrators and department directors spent the bulk of the meeting on budget deliberations, focusing on how to meet the board’s previously set maximum levy and where to make cuts if the commission seeks a lower mill rate.
County administrator Randy (speaker 4) reminded commissioners that the board set a maximum budget levy of 40.22 mills (about $32.87 million) and that every mill equals approximately $817,349 in revenue. He said reducing the levy back to a flat rate would require roughly $1.978 million in cuts, while a revenue‑neutral rate of about 35.7 mills would need $3.5–4.0 million in reductions. Staff provided a first pass of departmental reductions totaling about $158,184 across several departments and recommended further discussion of capital and personnel items.
Personnel costs were a major topic. Administration recommended a 5% across‑the‑board pay increase and explained the arithmetic: roughly $240,000 per 1% change in the pay scale. Human resources explained that employees who have topped out on their pay bands would receive only the pay‑scale movement component of any pay‑scale maintenance and that adjustments would be structured to preserve recruitment competitiveness. Commissioners asked departments to bring specific proposals and for staff to return with scenarios showing impacts on operations and mill rates.
