At the invitation of the Linn County Commission, Kansas Policy Institute CEO Dave Trabert conducted a public budget workshop Wednesday evening at the Linn County 4-H building. KPI owns The Sentinel.
Linn County has the dubious honor of the highest residential assessed valuation hikes over the last four years: 91% compared to the statewide average of 40%. The resulting unaffordable property tax increases prompted commissioners to seek help identifying opportunities to reduce service costs to lower property taxes. County commissioners haven’t increased property tax revenue over the last four years, yet they still want to find more ways to offset increases imposed by school districts, cities, and other taxing authorities.
Trabert emphasized to the assembled crowd that the purpose of the review was not to suggest that any individual elected official or department was doing something wrong or spending too much, but to identify opportunities to reduce costs. He said the budget system in place for decades doesn’t provide commissioners or citizens with the level of detail needed, and encouraged everyone to adopt an attitude that no one is to blame for anything, but everyone is responsible for identifying and implementing changes to reduce the tax burden.
Trabert noted that from 1997 to 2025 — the last year for which numbers are available — Linn County property taxes had increased 220%, while the population had increased only 10% and inflation about 90%, putting the property tax increase at more than double the rate of population increase plus inflation.
While the county didn’t increase its property tax revenue over the last four years, most other taxing authorities did.
School district taxes increased by 24%, going from $13.8 million to $17.2 million. That $3.4 million increase accounts for about 80% of the total increase in Linn County. Cities collectively imposed a 31% increase, and the library systems raised taxes by 17%. The Legislature eliminated the state tax of 1.5 mills for building maintenance starting in 2027.
While the total tax increase is 13% over four years, homeowners are being slammed with a 60% property tax increase, including taxes on newly constructed property. The average tax increase on existing homes is 49%. Mill rates declined, but not nearly enough to offset the 91% increase in valuation.
The tax on the state-assessed power plant declined by 4%, and the tax on agricultural land dropped by 21%, as well, due to a reduction in assessed value. The tax on commercial and industrial property increased by just 1%.
In addition to the Legislature needing to limit the increase on assessed valuations and tax collections, Trabert said local governments should find ways to reduce costs, and his research found some significant spending variances in the county budget relative to counties with a similar population.
Linn County budget findings
Linn County spent 27% more per resident in 2024 (the last year for which actual spending is available) than the average of eight other counties with a similar population (Anderson, Brown, Cloud, Marshall, Nemaha, Pratt, Rice and Wilson). Taxpayers spent $4.4 million more based on the average cost per resident of those counties.
Moreover, Linn County’s 2026 budget for the Sheriff is nearly twice that of those eight counties on a per-resident basis. Trabert emphasized, however, that that doesn’t mean the Sheriff is overspending.
“There could be valid reasons like coverage area or crime statistics that require more spending in Linn County. The purpose of identifying large variances is that those tend to be good places to start deeper examinations.”
Trabert noted that employee benefits spending is the second-largest cost variance among similar counties. The 2026 budget is $2.0 million higher than the average cost per resident across the eight comparable counties.
“Government employee pay and benefits should be commensurate with the private sector. Employee pay data isn’t in the published budget, but how many working taxpayers have health care, pension, life and cancer insurance, short-term disability, deferred compensation, health savings account contributions, and longevity bonuses?”
Excess cash reserves and non-budgeted funds
General Fund cash reserves routinely exceed 60% of each year’s cash expenses, which is four to five times as much as should be needed. Actual spending for 2025 would be included in the proposed 2027 budget, but commissioners haven’t yet received a full budget proposal. In 2024, the beginning cash balance was $6 million and general fund cash expenditures totaled $9.7 million.
Linn County also held a little more than $9 million in cash reserves at the end of 2024 in other funds, putting total reserves a little over $15 million. Cash reserves at the end of 2020 totaled a little over $10 million, not counting money held for construction of the new jail. The net increase of $5 million means the county took in $5 million more than it spent over four years, and could have taxed less with better budget information.
Trabert said the county has 13 so-called ‘non-budgeted funds’ that are allowed in state law but not required. By law, spending in non-budgeted funds is reported two years in arrears. For example, the 2026 budget only shows activity in non-budgeted funds for 2024. He recommends moving money from non-budgeted to budgeted funds to increase transparency.
One taxpayer asked what county commissioners should do next.
“What I would recommend is the commissioners collectively decide what direction they want to go, and I’d be happy to consult with them if they want,” he said. “It’s like, what steps do you take first? You want to go about it methodically. You want to make sure that everybody understands what you’re doing.”
Trabert said the first place to start is deciding what the goal is.
“[The commission] could say, for example, ‘we want a budget that reduces our taxes by a million dollars,” Trabert said. “Now you tell the department heads … ‘we’re trying to reduce costs. So bring us back a budget that spends less. Do not cancel any program or any service unless you tell us in writing why you think it should be canceled.”
Linn County Commission Chairwoman Alison Hamilton was — like much of the audience — appreciative of the information.
“I think the meeting went well,” she said. “I think it’s good to come together and have the community’s thoughts presented and listen to their concerns.
“I feel like going forward with the commission, we need to have a discussion about it. But I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to implement some of the things that were put in the pamphlets tonight in the binders for the community. I wrote down the supporting schedule. I thought that was great information, and also going through the non-budgeted items, I thought that was interesting to see how I know where it’s going and what it’s going for, but maybe it’s not transparent to the community on where it’s going.”
