By: NICOLAS FIERRO
Salina Post
Saline County Commissioners voted to 'cut' a proposed mill levy tax rate (property taxes) for the 2026 county budget, during a county commission meeting on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, July 15th during the Saline County Commission meeting, county commissioners discussed and reviewed a proposed mill levy (property tax) rate for the 2026 year. During the meeting, Saline County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes presented the proposed 2026 mill levy rate for commissioners and gave options for further decisions.
A mill levy rate is the tax rate that is derived from applying the 'County's budget,' less 'other income' (grants, service fees, assessments, etc.) to the total assessed valuation of taxable properties within the specific County.
(For example, if a 'residential value' is $150,000 it would then be multiplied by Kansas' statewide residential assessment rate (11.5%), which equals to an 'assessed value' of $17,250. The county will then multiply the total mill levies for all applicable taxing jurisdictions by the 'assessed value,' which will make up the 'property tax amount').
Those decisions were either to exceed or decrease the proposed 2026 mill levy rate.
According to Saline County, the current mill levy rate is 40.112 ($40.11 in property tax per $1,000 of assessed valuation/annually) and the proposed 2026 mill levy rate was stated to be 41.571 ($41.57 in property tax/$1,000 value).
Before the decision was made, appeals from the county clerk's office and human resources department were presented. Those appeals were to hire a new payroll position (presented by HR) and/or to hire an extra position for the elections office (presented by the county clerk's office). The decision to either hire one or both of the positions was not required to be made at this time by the county commissioners.
According to Smith-Hanes, if the commissioners voted to approve both appeals, the proposed 2026 mill levy rate would increase from 41.571 ($41.57 in property tax/$1,000 value) to 41.731 ($41.73 in property tax/$1,000 value). (41.647 for the approval of the elections office position only, and 41.663 for the approval of the payroll position only).
District 5 Commissioner Joe Hay, commented that he did 'not want to exceed the proposed mill levy rate.'
"We need to take care of the taxpayers, so they do not have a property tax burden," said Hay.
Vice Chairman, District 1 Commissioner Monte Shadwick stated that he was not 'willing to raise the property taxes' as well. He also commented that the food service at the Senior Services Center in Salina has a 'negative cash flow of $233,000 per year.'
Moreover, District 4 Commissioner James Weese stated that the county could decrease the proposed 2026 mill levy rate by 'cutting it' to 40.700 ($40.70 in property tax/$1,000 value).
After further discussion, all commissioners (except for Secretary, District 2 Commissioner Annie Grevas who was not present) voted to decrease the proposed 2026 mill levy rate to 40.700 ($40.70) for next year's county budget.
Until there is an official decision on the 2026 mill levy rate, there will be a final consideration, public hearing on September 9th, 2025.
The date to adopt the budget would be October 1st, 2025.
Links to the 2026 County Budget Direction presented on Tuesday, July 15:
Budget Appeal Letter Clerk 2026
Link to the 2026 Adopted Budget presented on Tuesday, July 1st: