By NATE KING
Salina Post
The Saline County Board of Commissioners held a Revenue Neutral Rate Public Hearing on August 20, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. in the City-County Building. The meeting was presided over by Board Chairman Joe Hay Jr. with commissioners Robert Vidricksen II, Monte Shadwick, Roger Sparks, and James Weese present.
Click the above link to watch the Saline County Commission Aug. 20 Meeting.
Following the approval of the Consent Agenda, Hay opened the floor for public comments regarding the Revenue Neutral Rate for Saline County's 2025 budget. Several residents expressed concerns about their rising property taxes.
Marilyn Smith's taxes have increased significantly since she moved to Salina from Arkansas 10 months ago.
"My county taxes have gone up almost $1,000, my Salina City taxes have gone up $1,000 and the Salina Public Library went from $76 to $211," Smith said. "I am just in awe with the taxes here from where I came in Arkansas. I don't know why the taxes are so high here."
A married Salinan couple, Becky and Larry Shulda, said they have also seen their taxes increase.
"We moved here roughly six years ago, and our story is pretty much the same — our taxes have gone up overall $1,000 since we moved here," Larry Shulda said.
"That's a lot of money for fixed-income folks," Becky Shulda said. "We have a modest home, and we hope you'll think about this when you set the rates. Everything else is expensive. We're struggling. Our discretionary income is shrinking and shrinking fast."
Other citizens, including Joe Fielding, and Pete Bohm, shared similar concerns about rising local property taxes.
"I love Kansas. I do have a concern that needs to be brought up is the amount of taxation that's occurring here. Is is becoming unsustainable. A lot of people my age and above, are becoming unable to sustain the tax load," Fielding said. "I also know some younger people who are trying to start out in life, and they are concerned that they can't take the tax load on their home. That's not good."
Fielding said the proposed increases disturbed him because it could lead to an increase in the homeless population.
"I'm observing a massive increase of people my age and older that are hitting the streets because they can no longer sustain the increased rents or the tax load on their homes," Fielding said.
In response to the public comments, Commissioner Shadwick clarified that the Board is responsible for setting the property tax rate but does not control property valuations, which the County Appraiser's Office handles.
"The five of us do not set the valuation," Shadwick said. "There is a process where they [Saline County residents] can appeal that and I understand the frustration, but, but as far as what we're doing today is we're just setting the rate that is taxed."
Sean Robertson, Saline County appraiser, said residents can appeal the valuation at certain times of the year.
"When we sent out value notices on March 1, they had 30 days to do that at that time," Robertson said. "Now that opportunity has expired, the next chance they have would be when they pay the first half of taxes at approximately December."
Robertson said his office would be available for any questions residents have, however no changes can be made in evaluations until later in the year.
Commissioner Vidricksen said although the meeting to approve the budget happened this week, the budget process began months ago with minimal public input.
"Throughout the budget process, which occurred for several months, no one came, and not one person was at our meetings,” Vidricksen said. "Today is the approval of what's come out of those meetings. I want to say to the ladies here who spoke about all of the taxes that went up, and I hear that. I get the same tax bill you do."
Commissioners have no authority over the city, the library, the school board or any other taxing entity, Vidricksen said.
"We are only responsible for the one county commission property tax, and that's all that we can control," Vidricksen said.
He also acknowledged the challenges of addressing years of deferred maintenance.
"Over the years, when the majority of us started here, the county had let things slide backwards," Vidricksen said. "When it comes to improvements for buildings and vehicles and things like that, I can remember as an example, out of all the sheriff's cars, 150,000 miles was the lowest mileage."
Commissioner Shadwick highlighted the commission's efforts to cut more than a million dollars from the initially proposed budget despite the difficulties of maintaining essential services and retaining qualified staff amidst rising costs.
The Saline County Board of Commissioners passed Resolution 24-2410, adopting the 2025 Saline County Budget with a 5-0 vote.