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like to call the RNR meeting to order
and we'll do the flag salute.

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appointed to the flag of United States
of America and to the republic for which

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it stands. One nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice

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for all.

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» Do you need to say something?
>> Nope.

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» Okay.
>> That's what I thought.

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» Like to welcome everybody to a revenue
neutral rate hearing. The purpose of

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this hearing is to listen to listen and
answer to objections from tax relating

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to the revenue neutral rate and the
proposed tax rate as required by candid

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statute 79-2988.

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This hearing will now be open for
comments and each person will have three

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minutes to voice their concerns.
So

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Eddie Kyle, be honest with you. I've
looked through your budget.

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I don't have any major concerns at a
high level. You guys are very, very

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conservative.
I think you're doing a good job.

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As a taxpayer, to me, there's really no
reason to complain about taxes at a

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county level, but I pay a lot of taxes
and I look at all the different boards

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that have taxing capabilities and
impact. So, you as a board, what do you

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suggest I do?
I can complain to you, but to me there's

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those values there.
So, who do I voice my concerns to

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» the state?
The jo uh where do we get some banging

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of our buck here?
>> I think we got to start with the state,

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» okay?
>> Because they're the ones we all know

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property taxes are too high,
>> right?

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But we've got they put on the counties
18 different

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» mandates
>> mandated deals that the counties have to

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fund with no money from the state
>> and they keep giving exemptions tax

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exemptions all the time to different
corporations and different entities.

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» These tax exemptions can you expand on
that

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» like public utilities
that type of entities?

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basically anything if they get it
through

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» counties deal.
>> Yeah. Data centers.

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» Data centers.
>> That type of stuff.

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» I think they did away with watercraft
and all that last year, didn't they?

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» I mean, that's a huge And every time
they do that, you've got to fill the

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gap.
>> Yes. It goes back on real estate or, you

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know,
>> real estate.

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» So, does Pratt County have a lot of tax
exemptions for industry?

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» No.
>> State mandated?

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» Yeah. I mean, it's all mandated through
the state. We can't

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» we can't change that.
>> So, but then you got the different

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boards. I mean, I've looked at your
fluff sheet and none of those items line

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items to me I would touch. Humane
society, the hospital. I mean, some of

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that stuff is a
>> it's a must.

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» Yeah, it's a must.
>> And I think if you cut it, you'd have

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more push back than people like me
complaining about taxes. So,

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» they're all good entities.
>> Yes.

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» Yeah. So, I guess I'm not one to say
what you're doing is wrong, but we are

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overt taxed. In inflation is coming up.
The tax burden is falling back to the

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elderly because of the baby boomers were
aging out.

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» So, you've got a jo that has a board
that can tax it

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with no checks and balances. You got a
board for a hospital that people like me

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look at. You need the hospital,
but is it

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sustainable at its current situation? I
don't know.

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» And that's why we got beer in it.
>> Okay. So, as a taxpayer,

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you've got board members that have
sustained that situation the last couple

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years. The taxpayers come into that.
What do we have to say that we can come

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back and say maybe we want a different
leadership board

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instead of leaving that one in place to
manage it going forward.

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» I agree with you 100% on that. Uh
taxpayer money has to be used. I think

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we need to restructure how that's
governed.

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» Most definitely.
>> Uh right now they're a private entity.

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They don't have to give financials. They
don't have to

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do any of that. Correct.
>> I mean I mean

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» there are some reporting requirements in
the lease

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» for us,
>> right?

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» But I mean as far as the public
uh but if taxpayer money is going to be

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used, it'll be a whole different.
>> Yeah. Thank you. The only suggestion I

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have and it may be one you guys looked
at and it may not be feasible but

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insurance. Your insurance rates have
went through the roof,

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» right? So, I assume that's health
insurance.

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» Yes,

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» I already did, too. But we made some
changes this year and it's actually

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cheaper, but we had to pull this
building out

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» and then pay down to
>> with a higher a much higher deductible.

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» Yeah. Like a $200,000 deductible. You
know, I mean, needing a roof, so we'll

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probably just going to end up paying for
it. You know what I'm saying?

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» Yes. Again, you guys I I think you're
very good at managing your and you're

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very conservative with managing your
the only thing I again [clears throat]

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who else do I complain to state exam so
on so forth jo which to me I don't know

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they were at what 40ome mills they think
they dropped to 38 you guys have got 65

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so I mean that's a substantial amount of
money.

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» Yeah.
>> The only thing health insurance I'm

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00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:22,240
going to go back to it selfinsure. Pratt
County as a whole could not sustain that

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risk.
>> But have you guys thought about co-oping

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with counties around you and maybe
looking at selfinsure

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» and and you may have already done it.
>> Yeah, some of them are with the K

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deal and we were with them for a very
short time. It's not.

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It might have been cheaper, but our
clerk's office was handling all the

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claims and doing all the labor, and it
just wasn't something that we could

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sustain
in her office just because it's just

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more work. Uh,
you know, our health insurance, we've

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had years where we've overused.
>> Several years.

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» Several years. In fact, this last year
we overused again.

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» Yeah.
>> Uh you know, and so we go out to bid

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and people look at that and nobody bids
on us at Blue Cross.

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So it's one of those things, you know,
you can't control what happens to

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people.
>> Well, I I know what it does with my

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health insurance. I know what I'm
looking to increase at a personal level.

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So I can imagine the county level with
the headcount that you have and exposure

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» different diseases that may occur. I
mean Yeah.

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» And you know then to make that work
>> just on top of that, you know, we've

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eliminated a position in the treasur's
office. We've eliminated a position in

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the clerk's office. We've eliminated a
couple of positions on the road. And we

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still have people working for $167 an
hour here. And we need to get those up

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because we can't get people hired. Yeah,
because they want to start at 20 and I

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don't blame them.
>> Uh that's a real concern of mine that

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we're not, you know, get people hired.
Yeah, I could raise taxes a bunch and

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get everybody's wages up, but I we're
trying not to do that. We're trying to I

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don't know what we're trying to do.
We're trying to fix it, but we

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» But uh
you know, for people to say, "Well, you

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need to make cuts." We we've made cuts.
the fact we're spending $50,000 worth of

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cash
to our employee benefit fund.

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So, that's not a good way to budget
either.

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» But again,
>> to keep taxes down, we're doing what we

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can. Plus, we're still trying to build
up our cash reserves, which we're

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spending them.
>> But the perception is people pay money

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to Pratt County.
>> Yeah. Yeah.

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» They don't understand all the other
entities that flow into that. Yeah.

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» Yeah.
And I think it would be beneficial as a

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commission maybe explain that to the
different taxpayers. You guys understand

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it 100%.
>> Us laying out here looking at your tax

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burden. We don't understand all that.
>> It's a bill comes from the pract.

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» It kind of goes back full circle to your
first question though. You asked, you

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know, who who do I bring my concerns to?
>> Exactly.

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» And it really is a state level concern.
I mean, if you talk to DJ, their

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appraiser, over the course of his
career,

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I mean, there was we went we started
with getting rid of personal property

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exemptions. We're getting we've moved
over over 30 years. Pretty much

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everything got exempted in personal
property. There's very little that gets

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taxed personal property wise now
compared to when he started. We have

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massive real property exemptions for
wind, solar, data centers, any type of

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renewable. All of those are state level,
you know, and there's nothing

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» and they tell us we can't tax it. So,
>> you know, there's nothing that my guys

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can do other than what you can do, which
is voice their concerns to your

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00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:09,680
legislators.
>> So, the solar farm, the wind farm,

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they're tax exempt at a state level.
Yep.

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00:14:10,079 --> 00:14:14,720
» State level. And
>> across the state, even local level can't

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tax.
>> New new projects are 10-year exemptions.

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Renewable new projects. The original
wind farms are lifetime exemptions. So

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that statute was changed. I don't know
what year it changed, but originally

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there were lifetime exemptions. It went
to a 10-year exemption. But if you fell,

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00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:36,720
if you
you applied and completed your project

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before the statute changed, you maintain
your lifetime exemption. Absent there

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not being a repower that fundamentally
changes the project. Again, it's

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00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:50,639
something that [clears throat] we have
no control over. Again, I I agree 100%

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00:14:48,639 --> 00:14:55,120
what you're saying. So, there's very
little benefit for me to complain to you

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00:14:54,079 --> 00:15:00,959
at your level.
>> Yeah. Unless you see something that

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we're just absolutely not doing our job.
>> I didn't get down in the weeds of your

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day-to-day expenses. Okay. I don't I
didn't look at your capital

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improvements.

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» The health was a big one. Can't touch
that. I can't touch that.

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00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:17,279
No, there's really
>> there's nothing in there to cut.

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» Yeah.
>> Without without

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» impacting people. Yeah.
>> Humane Society. $15,000 a year. Really?

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00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:31,120
That's all they get? You know, and
that's senior citizen 221,000 a year.

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» That's not a lot of money.
>> No.

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» No.
>> And you know, give our department heads

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00:15:35,839 --> 00:15:44,560
a big pat on the back paying $5 diesel.
>> Yes. Yeah. I saw that right. and and you

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00:15:42,079 --> 00:15:49,120
know the when they come in and talk to
us, we talk about the fuel prices and so

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they're having to adjust their budgets
on the fly and so far they're doing

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pretty darn good. I you know I mean when
you get a you know road diesel bill for

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00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:03,120
76 $80,000 a month.
>> Yes. That

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00:16:01,279 --> 00:16:08,480
» you know that eats up your budget pretty
fast.

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00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:14,560
» Well I I think from my perspective you
guys a pretty good job. appreciate that

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00:16:11,279 --> 00:16:19,440
» and I think it would be benefit you
greatly if you kind of help explain some

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00:16:17,199 --> 00:16:22,480
of that other taxing entities that this
is not all well this money is not going

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to pra county
>> even that your tax money you're spending

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00:16:24,399 --> 00:16:30,639
doesn't cover
>> what 60% of your overall budget

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00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:35,759
» yeah like 12 million 13 million I think
is what we're collecting

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00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:39,279
» y so you didn't raise you're looking at
raising your neutral rate based upon the

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00:16:37,759 --> 00:16:43,360
value of the property so therefore your
mill is going to stay the same.

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00:16:40,959 --> 00:16:48,079
» Yeah. I mean,
the last two years, Northern Natural,

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and I don't know how to explain.
>> Yeah, I live out there.

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00:16:49,199 --> 00:16:54,639
» But apparently, they moved $28 million
worth of equipment

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» out of the county.
>> Out of the county. So, if you go back

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and look at our mill levy,
it just it sinks because we lost $28

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million in two years. Well, this year
they brought some of it back. What 13

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million, something like that. So, we're
trying to recapture that.

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» Okay.
>> Do you understand that? I mean,

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00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:25,280
» I think the kicker on that too is uh I'm
an auditor also by trade, not just bud

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help with budget. And at the state
level, it's called PVD, property

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00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:35,440
valuation department. And that's where
the state assess runs through. And just

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00:17:32,559 --> 00:17:41,520
like this example here with u correct me
if I'm wrong here u but u this is what's

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00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:47,200
really interesting about craft county
just exactly what he said where northern

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00:17:43,919 --> 00:17:51,039
has really doesn't have to have any
accountability to the state in a sense

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the way that they
>> yeah nobody checks on what they they

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00:17:53,039 --> 00:18:00,400
self file
>> except they do they did work hard to um

189
00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:06,400
get that changed and now there is a cap
on that if it changes If it increases or

190
00:18:02,559 --> 00:18:11,120
decreases by 5% 3%
>> um then that triggers an audit of that

191
00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:15,039
and that just got changed this year um
through a lot of hard work

192
00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:20,080
» they self audit self value
move it from one location to another

193
00:18:17,120 --> 00:18:24,160
thus that impacts the local tax base
>> and we don't know that until pretty much

194
00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:27,679
» the middle of the budget.
>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean we're we're in they

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00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:29,840
don't come out with that till like June
1st.

196
00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:33,440
» June Yeah. June 1st is stay.
>> We've got to have our budget done in a

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00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:37,679
couple weeks later.
>> I'm in Cunningham school district. So I

198
00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:42,160
I I
>> got a school districts as a whole. I

199
00:18:41,039 --> 00:18:46,400
have
>> I think Cunningham has done a very good

200
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:50,799
job of managing their money in this
school level.

201
00:18:47,679 --> 00:18:56,160
» So and and the value of your home. And
this is what I tell people. I know. I

202
00:18:52,799 --> 00:19:00,240
know. I'm just going to give you a real
life example. I'm just going to use you.

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00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:04,080
I don't know what you're holding worth,
but say the county says it's worth

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00:19:01,919 --> 00:19:08,240
300,000.
You don't think it's worth that. It's

205
00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:12,160
only 200,000.
You go to sell and a realer tells you,

206
00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:14,640
"Hey, I think I can get 300,000 out of
this home." You're going to take that,

207
00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:19,360
right?
>> Oh, yeah. Every time.

208
00:19:15,919 --> 00:19:23,039
» So, she puts it on the market or he
by the end of the day, somebody's

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00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:25,919
offered you 320,000.
>> You're going to take that.

210
00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:29,280
» Oh, every time. And that that is what
the data

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» and and that tells the whole market
>> people got money and all the home values

212
00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:37,200
go up.
>> It's not a lot of people think that we

213
00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:40,480
sit in here and we figure our budget and
say, "Oh, we need this much money. Go

214
00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:44,240
raise their taxes up that much." That's
not how that works.

215
00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:50,160
» I've had a conversation with you.
>> An appraiser has to have their value

216
00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:54,240
appraised value within a certain percent
above the selling price and below the

217
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,440
selling price. That's statemandated
also.

218
00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:59,520
» And they
>> and they come down and audit us every

219
00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:04,240
year to make sure we're within a certain
percentage of what we're doing.

220
00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:08,400
» I wouldn't want your job and I would
want his job. How about that for

221
00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:12,160
» I think our job's easier than his.
>> Yes. So yeah, that does make sense. I

222
00:20:11,679 --> 00:20:15,280
understand.
>> I'll just tell you one more thing. I

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00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:21,039
think you know when you put dollars with
it you kind of so let's just use uh I

224
00:20:18,559 --> 00:20:27,280
think in the in two years I know it was
12 or 14 million and 7 million drop in

225
00:20:24,559 --> 00:20:32,880
assessed value. So let's just use 21
million in two years. So if you move the

226
00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:38,880
decimal point three to the left that's
$21,000

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00:20:35,120 --> 00:20:45,679
per mill that we lost. So when you
multiply that times I think at that time

228
00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:50,080
it was about 59 58 58 or 59. You
multiply that times 21,000 that's a

229
00:20:48,159 --> 00:20:55,760
chunk of change. And we had to figure
out how we were going to make that work.

230
00:20:52,880 --> 00:21:00,640
And the other thing is I I kind of kidly
say this but you know the state pushes

231
00:20:57,919 --> 00:21:04,559
down on you RNR RNR R&R you know all
this. Oh I like I've I've asked them a

232
00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:10,640
couple times. Why don't you go under
RNR? you know, you you manage your

233
00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:15,280
income and all that the same way that
we're trying to ask because they think

234
00:21:12,559 --> 00:21:19,200
out here we're just I do six counties
and and a lot of cities and they just

235
00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:22,720
think we're just spending money
willy-nilly, you know? I mean, just just

236
00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:24,720
we're just spending it and that's not
true. I mean,

237
00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:25,760
» I'm not looking at your budget. It's not
true.

238
00:21:25,039 --> 00:21:32,720
» No, [clears throat] it's not true.
>> They think we're building pools and

239
00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:38,640
» but the perception is
building a pavilion out there. you know,

240
00:21:34,559 --> 00:21:43,280
the city of Pratt want to tax it
increased to offset the city

241
00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:47,520
personal property tax, but as people in
the county would pay that.

242
00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:52,640
» And we see no benefit from
>> so again, I don't know if there's any

243
00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:56,480
benefit in in joining with other
counties around you to try to leverage

244
00:21:54,720 --> 00:22:00,240
some of that buy and
>> schools did that when I was on the

245
00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:05,520
school board any value.
>> We pulled our our health insurance

246
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:11,440
because that way it gave us a little bit
more leverage with Blue Cross if they

247
00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:14,720
tried to raise it. You know, if you get
six schools pull out,

248
00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:17,840
» that's a big chunk of change for them.
It gets their attention

249
00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:23,039
» real fast.
>> I mean, the other obvious problem is the

250
00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:26,240
usage. County's usage is not attractive
to any other

251
00:22:24,159 --> 00:22:29,919
» Yeah. No other county would say look at
ours,

252
00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:32,640
man. I don't want
>> because of the

253
00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:39,120
» but [clears throat] that's aging
workforce a lot of factors you know

254
00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:45,440
» that's true but I mean I don't know
maybe fuel asphalt is is there anything

255
00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:50,960
that you co-op with that you can
leverage some of your mind

256
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:56,880
I don't know I that's just
>> yeah and I don't know you know I'm just

257
00:22:54,159 --> 00:23:00,559
going to use asphalt you know we use one
company I think there's only like one

258
00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:03,280
company that does that.
>> Yeah.

259
00:23:01,120 --> 00:23:07,280
» Two. That's it. But yeah, it's one
>> all the

260
00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:11,679
kind the same with the insurance more so
this insurance at the city level.

261
00:23:09,039 --> 00:23:16,240
There's only one that literally insures
this is property insurance basically all

262
00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:21,039
the cities across the state of Kansas.
>> Yeah. EMC and you know

263
00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:26,240
» it's just there's just a lot of things
like that.

264
00:23:24,159 --> 00:23:29,631
» Well, again don't
>> you got any more ideas?

265
00:23:27,611 --> 00:23:29,631
» [laughter]

266
00:23:29,679 --> 00:23:35,120
» We'll take them all.
>> Yes.

267
00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:38,880
» No, I just was kind of looking at it
your supply chain being able to leverage

268
00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:41,440
your buying power
whether it's in health insurance or

269
00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:44,400
asphalt or fuel.
>> That's something we can look into.

270
00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:48,880
» But it's, you know,
>> so the public's aware too. I mean, so we

271
00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:52,480
start talking about budget
early May. like we have budget study

272
00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:56,960
sessions which are open to the public
and these types of conversations

273
00:23:54,240 --> 00:24:01,440
actually do happen in there to try to
figure out hey how can we we can stay

274
00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:05,280
where we're at or be close to where
we're at. I mean the the difference the

275
00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:09,440
way I look at the difference and Sasha
did a good job putting this together

276
00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:14,960
between R and R and where we're at
$360,000

277
00:24:11,039 --> 00:24:22,480
more in Blue Cross Blue Shields premium
approximately 160,000 more in fuel cost.

278
00:24:18,799 --> 00:24:25,039
Uh the cola is an extra 200,000 roughly.
That explains the difference right

279
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:31,679
there. Just that
>> just that I mean we haven't done

280
00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:36,400
anything extravagant. We haven't
Yeah. Yeah. Our air conditioning bill in

281
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:39,679
his courthouse might throw us over, but
yeah.

282
00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:43,039
» Well, I do want to thank Sasha for
putting this off for me. Kind of walk me

283
00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:46,880
through it. I haven't seen I haven't
looked at your capital improvement

284
00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:49,520
stuff.
>> We do have we do have a plan. If you if

285
00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:56,320
you want to
>> tell them we had a nice binder down,

286
00:24:51,679 --> 00:25:02,080
» take a look at it. But uh I just again
the only thing I suggest is

287
00:24:59,360 --> 00:25:07,760
how you guys help me explain to your
layman that this is not all Pratt County

288
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:12,640
taxes that when I write that check it
doesn't all go to county

289
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:17,120
» and there's a lot of boards that have
taxing capabilities

290
00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:21,279
that to me there's
>> KSA has a you know a statute for it but

291
00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:24,640
there's no checks and balances like it
is with the elected officials.

292
00:25:23,120 --> 00:25:28,960
Gotcha.
>> Because all the school boards, [snorts]

293
00:25:27,120 --> 00:25:36,080
cities, township,
>> townships, cemetery boards, all that

294
00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:37,600
» comes out of the by county.
>> Yes.

295
00:25:36,799 --> 00:25:42,000
» Yeah.
>> What it is

296
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:46,159
» and the state used to give us
money. It's called the local valorum

297
00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:51,679
whatever
>> briefly. Yeah, labr took it away because

298
00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:57,360
he broke the state
>> and then they bought us and finally

299
00:25:54,640 --> 00:26:02,400
passed a law what two years ago
>> and did away with the whole thing.

300
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:09,720
So, and and the reason they were giving
us money is they won't allow us to tax

301
00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:09,720
fuel and certain stuff just they get

302
00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:17,360
» Well, that's really all I had. Thank you
guys for your service. Appreciate you

303
00:26:15,679 --> 00:26:21,360
coming in. Yeah, we appreciate it.
>> One thing you ask and I think this is so

304
00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:25,600
hard. I've done this for 44. This is my
44th year

305
00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:29,679
» and I love to explain the budget. We we
talk about in these meetings.

306
00:26:27,039 --> 00:26:32,799
» Scott has to go up to the state and
>> which I did tell him too that you were a

307
00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:36,240
great
>> Okay. You're the individual.

308
00:26:33,919 --> 00:26:41,039
» This is Scott. He's our
>> and I love I love to do that. But what's

309
00:26:38,559 --> 00:26:46,480
really interesting is we did this at
Marian County. We had the we about

310
00:26:44,159 --> 00:26:50,960
probably about seven years ago uh we
went it's kind of when RNR first came in

311
00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:55,440
and so we said let's let's just all have
a meeting evening meeting I think we set

312
00:26:52,799 --> 00:26:59,679
it at 7:00 and let's all understand the
city budget and the county budget okay

313
00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:04,400
at Marriott
I think there may have been 10 people

314
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:10,880
there I don't even know if there were 10
people there and nobody won I mean I

315
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:15,360
just till RNR came I I I've done these
budget hearings Like today there's a few

316
00:27:12,799 --> 00:27:20,000
here, you know, but usually there's one
maybe nobody that you know shows up.

317
00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:23,200
» There were I was at Stafford County last
week for something else for there, but

318
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:27,120
they had nobody.
>> Nobody shows up. Yeah. Most we've ever

319
00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:30,960
had since I've been here is five. And
you can see we you know we zoom it. I'm

320
00:27:29,039 --> 00:27:36,559
sure people watch the Zoom. Yeah.
>> We only have four online plus you guys.

321
00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:40,159
And this is every I mean we encourage
>> every time they get questions on the

322
00:27:38,159 --> 00:27:42,880
budget I encourage people to not only
come to this but to come to our study

323
00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:45,520
session.
>> Absolutely.

324
00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:48,880
» Watch. Yeah.
>> Yeah.

325
00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:53,200
» There's never any in the school either.
>> It's easier to be playing when you don't

326
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:57,039
have anybody to
>> so

327
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:59,840
» but again it's very intimidating at
times to come before the board. You guys

328
00:27:58,559 --> 00:28:04,320
do this every day. Yeah.
>> Rest of us don't. Right. So, I

329
00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:09,520
understand why it would be somewhat
intimidating to come and voice your

330
00:28:06,559 --> 00:28:14,720
concerns, reverse complaints.
>> It is. But, you know, we look at this

331
00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:17,039
as, you know, we work for you guys and
and we need to hear from

332
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:19,520
» Yeah.
>> You know, people stop me in on the

333
00:28:18,399 --> 00:28:22,240
street. That's one thing.
>> Yes.

334
00:28:20,159 --> 00:28:25,440
» You know, I can talk to them there. But,
uh,

335
00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:28,640
» yeah, they come in or send an email or
there's a thousand ways to communicate

336
00:28:27,120 --> 00:28:31,760
in today's world. Yes.
>> And we do welcome that.

337
00:28:29,919 --> 00:28:33,840
» Yeah.
I think

338
00:28:32,159 --> 00:28:35,679
» I tell people come to meetings every
week.

339
00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:39,200
» Yeah, absolutely.
>> Or watch it and then if you got

340
00:28:37,039 --> 00:28:42,240
questions, email me,
>> call me up.

341
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:46,720
» Back to back to something they said
earlier. This is this is across all but

342
00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:51,440
I don't know in Pratt you can you drive
golf carts in town in

343
00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:54,799
» US
recently with

344
00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:58,880
» so those got you know all the personal
property got exempted and I don't think

345
00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:02,240
people really think about that but that
really adds up quickly. So, I had this

346
00:29:00,559 --> 00:29:07,200
one, I don't do the county, but it's
Wilson Lake. Uh I don't know if I told

347
00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:13,440
that story here, but uh when the when
the uh watercraft got exempted here a

348
00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:19,120
couple years ago, uh the guy went out
and built a $150,000

349
00:29:16,159 --> 00:29:24,320
uh housebo and that became his residence
on the dock at at Wilson Lake and that

350
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:28,720
got totally exempted.
And see, there's things like that that

351
00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:33,039
happen that, you know, people's gonna
whatever the law is, [laughter] they're

352
00:29:31,039 --> 00:29:36,960
just going to try to figure out ways to,
you know, get around it. So we just do

353
00:29:34,559 --> 00:29:41,200
the best we can here I think to uh you
know be fair you know and try to do it

354
00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:47,200
in a way because I think the hardest
thing is to be fair to the employees you

355
00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:51,440
know and if you put yourself in their
shoes um I think the first year I was

356
00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:57,120
down here I don't want to get too far in
the weeds here but uh I went home told

357
00:29:53,679 --> 00:30:03,760
my wife um uh I went by McDonald's this
is right right after co I think I

358
00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:08,480
started what what year 23 22 budget 21
budget. So I went by there and they were

359
00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:11,520
advertising $15 to work in McDonald's,
you know, in the back. And we had just

360
00:30:10,159 --> 00:30:16,240
had a conversation because we were
trying to get the ambulance department

361
00:30:13,279 --> 00:30:23,120
back. It was kind of underwater.
>> And the starting salary was $13.89.

362
00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:27,200
And I told this is I'm not this is just
this is reality. This is everywhere.

363
00:30:24,799 --> 00:30:32,960
This is not just in Pratt. I said, "You
want to someone $15 in the back back or

364
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:37,279
the dish washing dishes at McDonald's
save you on the side of the road or do

365
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:40,080
you want somebody at $1389?" I mean,
that's Yeah.

366
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:42,960
» And that's sad, you know, cuz that
that's

367
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:45,039
» Yeah. So, I I could tell stories like
that. I mean, it's just it's just

368
00:30:44,159 --> 00:30:49,360
amazing
>> trying to trying to balance, you know,

369
00:30:46,799 --> 00:30:51,679
the the taxpayer with trying to keep
good like you were saying earlier, good

370
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:54,960
works work
>> and be able to hire, which is the road

371
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:59,440
department. It's a problem right now.
Yeah. I mean, we're down

372
00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:01,520
» I don't even know now. 11 12
>> under department is that?

373
00:31:01,039 --> 00:31:04,559
» Yeah.
>> Last time it was nine. So, you're

374
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:07,360
» I mean, you know, they can go drive a
truck for a company and make a lot more

375
00:31:06,159 --> 00:31:10,799
money than they're making.
>> Yeah.

376
00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:14,640
» Now, years ago, the benefits here kind
of made up for that, but the benefits

377
00:31:13,279 --> 00:31:17,120
don't buy you food.
>> No.

378
00:31:15,279 --> 00:31:21,120
» Right.
>> That's correct.

379
00:31:17,919 --> 00:31:24,080
» So, it's going to come to a head before
too long.

380
00:31:22,399 --> 00:31:29,919
» And that's where you're all at. where
we're all going to be all going to come

381
00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:32,960
» a reckoning for budget versus expense
versus

382
00:31:31,279 --> 00:31:36,799
» you know you got a lot of people in this
community on fixed incomes and seeing

383
00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:39,440
» the
>> and we talk about that in our budget

384
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:42,000
deal.
>> Yeah.

385
00:31:39,919 --> 00:31:46,159
» You know how how do we keep this down
because you know social security isn't

386
00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:50,000
increasing
>> reception is a lot of it. Yeah. and

387
00:31:47,919 --> 00:31:55,039
building a pavilion out east at the
force complex for very few individuals

388
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:59,679
compared to the old county
>> is not a good look

389
00:31:57,519 --> 00:32:03,360
but you know it's I don't think it's
taxf funded by the county level but

390
00:32:01,679 --> 00:32:07,200
people on a fixed income look at that
going

391
00:32:04,159 --> 00:32:12,480
» all my taxes are going up and we're
doing this out here my taxes are going

392
00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:16,480
up we got exposure at that hospital we
need that hospital

393
00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:21,840
» yes we do we have some people that
>> don't want us to spend spend a dime on

394
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:24,640
it and we've got some people that do.
>> You call it

395
00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:26,720
situation.
>> Yeah,

396
00:32:25,039 --> 00:32:28,480
» we have to have healthc care in this
county.

397
00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:33,840
» Yes, you do.
>> We can't just close the ER for two

398
00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:40,000
months or whatever. Find somebody else.
>> I think your entities surrounding the

399
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:44,960
county look at a lot of
not so much their core values but

400
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:47,760
add-ons, fluff if you will. And I think
the reckoning is going to come to where

401
00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:52,640
your core values are going to come back
to where they need to be

402
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:56,399
» instead of
playing football for girls at the juke.

403
00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:59,039
I don't know what that expense per year
is, but that's

404
00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:04,000
» high school now.
>> Yeah. Again, I'm not I'm not picking on,

405
00:33:02,559 --> 00:33:08,000
you know, title n
>> I know,

406
00:33:04,799 --> 00:33:13,279
» but it's it's another race over there.
>> Yeah, exactly. So, as a taxpayer, those

407
00:33:11,679 --> 00:33:19,360
are some of the things I look at. Is
that what bang on my buck can I get?

408
00:33:17,919 --> 00:33:24,320
» Yeah, we've had people in here
complaining we need to buy more rock.

409
00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:27,679
Rock trip crippled. I'm one of those
individuals.

410
00:33:25,919 --> 00:33:31,440
» We understand.
>> We'd love to buy more rock.

411
00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:35,679
» We We really would, but
>> And there was a time we could have

412
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:39,600
bought it, but they were out.
>> Well, it broke down. Yeah,

413
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:43,600
» because we get it from Sun City down
there and they're broke down most of the

414
00:33:41,039 --> 00:33:47,519
time. But, uh, you know, if we go over
to Eastern Kansas, get that rock and

415
00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:49,840
haul it back, the expense really gets
more than 3x.

416
00:33:49,039 --> 00:33:52,640
» Yeah.
>> Yeah. And

417
00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:55,519
» and to me, that's a capital improvement
project. Yeah. That's not a maintenance

418
00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:58,640
project. It's a capital.
>> Well, even our sand pit, we're going to

419
00:33:56,960 --> 00:34:00,720
run out of sand and we need to start
looking for another sand pit.

420
00:34:00,159 --> 00:34:05,440
» Yeah.
>> So, that's going to be that's in our

421
00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:11,440
capital improvement plan.
So, we've got to save money for that.

422
00:34:08,159 --> 00:34:16,399
The HVAC system in this building is
basically shot.

423
00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:19,998
» A rough shot
again.

424
00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:22,018
» Well, look at the mold on our
[laughter]

425
00:34:22,079 --> 00:34:26,520
» I fear for mark safety some days.

426
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:35,599
» Yeah, there
you guys do a lot.

427
00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:41,760
Not a full budget. How about that?
>> Yes. And we're trying because we pay the

428
00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:44,879
same taxes as everybody else does, too.
>> Yeah.

429
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:46,240
» Thank you.
>> Appreciate you coming.

430
00:34:45,679 --> 00:34:49,440
» Thank you.
>> Yeah.

431
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:52,720
» Gary, you have anything?
>> I just came to listen and gather

432
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:56,159
information.
>> Still appreciate that.

433
00:34:53,760 --> 00:35:00,119
» Yes. Yep.
Ma'am, you got any questions?

434
00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:07,280
» I have too many to even bring up.
[laughter]

435
00:35:05,119 --> 00:35:09,520
» Fire away. far away. And I, you know,
this first county commission meeting

436
00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:13,119
I've been to,
>> okay?

437
00:35:09,839 --> 00:35:17,200
» And the reason I'm here is because,
believe it or not, my hairdresser was

438
00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:20,400
the one that was pushing it. It gave me
a little flyer about the meetings,

439
00:35:19,839 --> 00:35:26,800
» okay,
>> for this. And of course, the flyer just

440
00:35:23,359 --> 00:35:33,040
told the date and the time, so I didn't
have a whole lot of information. The

441
00:35:29,839 --> 00:35:38,800
thing that I'm concerned about is the
situation the hospital is in. And I know

442
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:45,040
the hospital's counting. You know, as a
now future or frequent blind person, I'm

443
00:35:42,720 --> 00:35:50,320
now concerned about the fact that we
don't have ways to cross Main Street. Uh

444
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:56,960
but that's not you. You're talking about
the sports complex. Well, I coached for

445
00:35:54,320 --> 00:36:01,680
40 years. I'm 100% in favor of that.
It's magnificent, you know, but I

446
00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:05,920
thought other entities contributed like
the school districts and the college.

447
00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:11,920
» Gotcha.
>> You know, so I'm just kind of here and

448
00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:18,480
listening. The one thing and I the one
thing I'd say that I wish could happen

449
00:36:15,599 --> 00:36:23,359
is to have a meeting in the evenings
instead of nine o'clock in the morning.

450
00:36:20,720 --> 00:36:28,079
Now, I'm a morning person, all right?
But we used to run a business here in

451
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:30,560
Pratt. There's no way my husband could
make a 9:00 meeting.

452
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:34,720
» Gotcha.
>> The reason,

453
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:40,720
» you know, so if maybe every other week
or something you met in the evening or

454
00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:44,000
something so people who are working
could come

455
00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:46,720
» understand. Our normal meeting time is 2
o'clock in the afternoons.

456
00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:50,400
» That's worse.
>> Yeah. Gotcha.

457
00:36:47,839 --> 00:36:54,000
» Yeah. And the reason we have it too
because if we don't then we got to pay

458
00:36:52,079 --> 00:36:56,720
overtime to all the department heads
that come in and

459
00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,920
» really
>> Oh yeah. We can't just expect them to

460
00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:03,839
come in and not get paid.
>> Aren't they under your employment?

461
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:06,560
» Do what?
>> Aren't they under your employment?

462
00:37:06,079 --> 00:37:09,680
» Yes.
>> Most of them get paid hourly. Not a

463
00:37:08,720 --> 00:37:13,680
salary.
>> That's why they're hourly.

464
00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:17,920
» I mean as a school district
I went to a hell of a lot of meetings.

465
00:37:15,839 --> 00:37:20,720
» Yeah, I know you did. And they just
said, "You will show up at this time."

466
00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:24,560
» Yeah. Well,
>> whether it was convenient or not,

467
00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:27,280
» the IRS might look at us a little
different than they do school districts.

468
00:37:26,240 --> 00:37:31,359
I guess
>> I can't say when I came on, we were

469
00:37:29,359 --> 00:37:36,560
doing meetings at 4:00, which is still
not past five, but the uh we didn't have

470
00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:39,680
any more people show up.
>> Still didn't.

471
00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:42,000
» Yeah. Which is, you know, I
>> And you can watch them on Zoom

472
00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:43,920
» and we encourage
>> And then if you have questions, you can

473
00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:49,119
email.
>> I have no idea how to watch it. I mean,

474
00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:55,599
I see the big screen. I can see there's
a screen up there. Can't see the people,

475
00:37:51,599 --> 00:37:59,359
but is it How do you get to it?
>> There's

476
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:05,119
Mark, you want to explain?
>> There's a link on crackount.org on the

477
00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:12,560
commission button. There is a link there
that has a link. You just click it and

478
00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:15,920
it'll go to the latest YouTube video or
you can go to all of You can look at the

479
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:19,760
path one.
>> Okay.org

480
00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:22,640
» and
>> commission

481
00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:27,119
» commission. And then there's some
choices under there. If you go to the

482
00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:28,400
agendas, you can you can look at past
videos.

483
00:38:27,599 --> 00:38:29,839
» Be nice.
>> Yep.

484
00:38:29,119 --> 00:38:33,359
» It's all
>> agendas, minutes, and the

485
00:38:32,320 --> 00:38:37,280
» agendas and videos.
>> There's several years worth on there.

486
00:38:36,240 --> 00:38:41,040
» Yeah.
>> Pretty much since

487
00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:44,960
» and it's searchable, too. So, if you
have a topic that you're wondering about

488
00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:49,200
when it was talked last, you know, you
can you can search like budget and it

489
00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:52,960
would bring up every time budget was in
the agenda or the minutes.

490
00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:56,800
» Okay.
I appreciate, you know, I just decided I

491
00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:58,400
had to come.
>> Oh, god.

492
00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:04,720
» Glad you did. Yeah.
>> Because tax and you mentioned people who

493
00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:09,440
are on a stationary budget, you know,
you get this much from the IRA or from

494
00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:16,320
the social security and a little bit of
retirement. we have and every time

495
00:39:12,079 --> 00:39:20,480
things go up, it puts cake in things.
>> It's rough.

496
00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:26,440
» Yeah, we we we talk about that a lot
when we do our budget workshops

497
00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:26,440
» and

498
00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:32,880
you know, our department heads come in
and sometimes they shoot for the moon

499
00:39:30,720 --> 00:39:36,880
and see what they get and sometimes they
say, you know,

500
00:39:35,119 --> 00:39:42,240
and and you can't blame them. I mean,
they're running under department and so

501
00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:45,119
then we got to balance,
you know, what's really worth it and

502
00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:48,320
what's not,
>> right?

503
00:39:46,560 --> 00:39:52,000
» I mean, our school board does the same
thing. It's just what everybody does,

504
00:39:50,240 --> 00:39:55,359
you know, and it's hard.
>> Even on the personal level, it's

505
00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:58,079
everybody [snorts] does the same thing.
>> Exactly.

506
00:39:56,160 --> 00:40:06,320
» Yeah. Yeah. There's an inflation thing,
but between insurance and

507
00:40:02,720 --> 00:40:12,160
» I may start putting beef in my backyard.
Yeah, the insurance

508
00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:17,119
» may not even be able to
afford to keep it. It won't be worth it

509
00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:21,920
for too long.
>> And yet they're raking in billions of

510
00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:28,599
dollars a years.
And they're using AI now to

511
00:40:25,599 --> 00:40:28,599
deny.

512
00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:37,880
» So that's all I have. Thank you. Thank
you.

513
00:40:34,720 --> 00:40:37,880
» Thank you.

514
00:40:38,079 --> 00:40:41,079
» Anybody?

515
00:40:41,119 --> 00:40:45,880
Nobody's online is there?

516
00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:55,359
» Do you guys have any
more discussions on revenue neutral

517
00:40:54,079 --> 00:40:59,119
rate?
>> I don't

518
00:40:56,480 --> 00:41:04,000
» just say
we're trying our darnest to keep taxes

519
00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:07,280
down. Absolutely.
>> It's

520
00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:12,880
it's tough for people. We know it's
tough for people and yet we have to

521
00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:15,880
provide a service of some kind
and

522
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:22,880
you know it just well even the juvenile
deal.

523
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:28,880
» Yeah.
>> I didn't even bring that up. So, state

524
00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:33,040
legislature decided that
they're going to take away the judge's

525
00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:39,760
discretion on whether they can lock up
juveniles or not. So, now juveniles are

526
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:42,880
going to be locked up. Instead of
bringing them home and sending them home

527
00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:47,119
with grandma or something like that,
they're going to be locked up. Guess who

528
00:41:45,119 --> 00:41:50,480
pays for that?
>> The county.

529
00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:55,680
» The county does.
So, uh,

530
00:41:53,520 --> 00:42:01,200
you know, that's just another mandate
from the state

531
00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:05,640
down to us that we're going to pay for a
law that they put out.

532
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:13,880
» We got a budget of $2.3 million for the
sheriff's project.

533
00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:21,200
» And we're already just in the six months
that started couple of months. I think

534
00:42:18,480 --> 00:42:25,119
he's already over on juvenile line items
>> by a lot.

535
00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:30,359
» Yeah, by quite a bit because it's $250 a
night or something like that.

536
00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:30,359
» Keep a juvenile

537
00:42:34,720 --> 00:42:40,560
» and there's nothing we can do about
>> there will be conversations at the state

538
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:46,800
level and whether the state gets
anything done. I'm talking not just

539
00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:50,079
juvenile talking about taxes in general.
It's unclear to me and what it looks

540
00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:54,160
like unclear to me.
>> But for there to be fundamental change,

541
00:42:52,560 --> 00:42:57,280
it's going to have to come at the top
side of

542
00:42:54,800 --> 00:43:05,240
» Yeah. Yeah. Either how we figure the
taxes or what they tax or that all comes

543
00:43:01,599 --> 00:43:05,240
from the state level.

544
00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:16,800
And I know there's a big push across the
state to abolish property taxes.

545
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:19,680
Well, that's great. What's going to make
up the difference?

546
00:43:18,400 --> 00:43:21,200
» You just pulled it from one pot and
moved it to another.

547
00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:22,480
» Yeah,
>> that's all you're doing.

548
00:43:22,240 --> 00:43:24,800
» Yeah.
>> The budget's not change. You just shift

549
00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:29,280
it.
>> Can you imagine paying real high sales

550
00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:32,280
tax on $5 diesel?
>> Yeah.

551
00:43:34,319 --> 00:43:37,359
» Or sales high dollar sales tax on
anything.

552
00:43:37,119 --> 00:43:42,640
» Yeah.
>> Yeah. Would be. It's going to have to go

553
00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:46,800
bill just went to 400 a week.
>> Yeah.

554
00:43:44,160 --> 00:43:51,040
It's not.
And I'm not saying I got any answers to

555
00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:58,599
it. I mean, they've got a job to do up
there. They need to do it,

556
00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:58,599
but I don't have any answers.

557
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:05,760
Well, this is a good time to ask
questions of people that are look trying

558
00:44:03,680 --> 00:44:09,359
to get elected into those positions.
>> Yeah.

559
00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:12,240
» And that's where we as
people of the county state,

560
00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:16,079
» Yeah. [clears throat] Yeah, we need to
be educated on

561
00:44:13,839 --> 00:44:22,720
» what to ask, who to ask, when to ask,
>> right? Because some of those bills they

562
00:44:18,720 --> 00:44:27,040
proposed, thankfully got voted down in
the legislative season back in February,

563
00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:30,800
March,
>> would have really hurt.

564
00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:36,000
» It been substantially more difficult.
>> It would people like I don't even know

565
00:44:33,520 --> 00:44:40,560
what bills you're talking about.
>> Yeah, it's a big problem.

566
00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:47,200
» Communication.
We don't want to engage, but we need we

567
00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:50,319
want to complain about it. So, how do we
go investigate it? Try to become

568
00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:52,560
educated on it. Yeah.
>> And then what do you do with that

569
00:44:51,520 --> 00:44:55,760
information?
>> It's easy to complain. I'm good at it.

570
00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:59,440
» Oh, sure. We all are.
>> Yeah.

571
00:44:56,960 --> 00:45:04,960
» I don't have a simple answer. I mean the
information is available but like all

572
00:45:02,800 --> 00:45:11,040
the bills are online but I mean what
you're talking about is getting people

573
00:45:07,839 --> 00:45:15,200
involved and educated and both of those
are difficult tasks.

574
00:45:12,319 --> 00:45:18,480
» Yeah.
>> I don't want to discourage you. I mean I

575
00:45:17,040 --> 00:45:21,839
would [laughter]
to do what you can do and talk to your

576
00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:26,480
legislator.
>> I mean you're 100% right. A lot of

577
00:45:23,599 --> 00:45:31,040
people won't say anything until affect
somebody already passed.

578
00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:35,599
» Well, we have to see how that change is
going to affect you six months to a year

579
00:45:33,280 --> 00:45:38,400
down the road. It's kind of tough at
times, especially when you don't

580
00:45:36,720 --> 00:45:40,000
understand all the dynamics going into
that decision.

581
00:45:39,599 --> 00:45:44,319
» Yeah.
>> Yeah. You know, at the legislative

582
00:45:42,079 --> 00:45:47,520
level, the people that are voting on,
they should be able to they should

583
00:45:45,839 --> 00:45:50,079
understand that. And when you ask them a
question, they should be able to tell

584
00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:53,200
you how it's going to affect you. If
they can't, that's a pretty good

585
00:45:51,680 --> 00:46:00,200
indicator that, you know,
>> it's it's they just vote based upon how

586
00:45:56,960 --> 00:46:00,200
they're directed.

587
00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:03,640
» Yep.

588
00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:12,960
» Anything else, guys? Do I hear a motion
to approve the RNR?

589
00:46:11,119 --> 00:46:16,720
» I'll make that motion.
>> I'll second it.

590
00:46:14,240 --> 00:46:21,440
» It's been moved and seconded to approve
the RNR rate this year for the county.

591
00:46:19,359 --> 00:46:26,000
I'm going to read the resolution before
I say resolution before voted on the

592
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:31,040
resolution.
>> Yep.

593
00:46:26,880 --> 00:46:35,119
» Resolution number 09-08-2026.
A resolution of the board of county

594
00:46:32,560 --> 00:46:39,599
commissioners of PR County Kansas to
exceed the revenue neutral rate in its

595
00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:42,240
property tax levy for the tax year of
2027.

596
00:46:41,119 --> 00:46:46,960
Whereas the board of county
commissioners of Pratt Kansas, Pratt

597
00:46:44,720 --> 00:46:51,760
County, Kansas is statutoily required to
provide notice and hearing prior to

598
00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:56,319
exceeding the revenue neutral rate. And
whereas the Pratt County clerk provided

599
00:46:53,680 --> 00:47:00,560
the notice of the hearing on
the revenue neutral rate on August 13,

600
00:46:58,960 --> 00:47:07,599
2026,
August 20th, 2026, and August 27th, 2026

601
00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:12,560
via publication in the Tri County
Tribune, and posted the notice on the

602
00:47:10,079 --> 00:47:17,040
Pratt County's website.
And whereas a revenue neutral rate for

603
00:47:14,480 --> 00:47:23,520
the tax year 2027 for Pratt County was
calculated at 62.655 655 mills by the

604
00:47:21,119 --> 00:47:28,319
Pratt County clerk. And whereas the
budget proposed by the PRA board of

605
00:47:26,079 --> 00:47:33,920
county commissioners of Pratt County,
Kansas for the tax year 2027 will

606
00:47:31,280 --> 00:47:38,480
require the levy of property tax rate
exceeding the revenue neutral rate. And

607
00:47:37,280 --> 00:47:42,960
whereas the board of county
commissioners of Pratt County, Kansas,

608
00:47:40,160 --> 00:47:47,920
held a hearing on September 8th, 2026,
allowing all interested taxpayers an

609
00:47:45,280 --> 00:47:51,040
opportunity to be heard at the hearing.
And whereas the board of county

610
00:47:49,280 --> 00:47:54,560
commissioners of Pratt County, Kansas,
having heard testimony, has determined

611
00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:59,440
that it's the best interest of Pratt
County to exceed the revenue neutral

612
00:47:56,480 --> 00:48:04,160
rate. Now, therefore, be it resolved by
the board of county commissioners of Pra

613
00:48:01,280 --> 00:48:08,560
County, Kansas, as follows. The Pratt
Pratt County shall leave a property tax

614
00:48:06,640 --> 00:48:13,760
rate which exceeds the revenue neutral
rate of 62.655

615
00:48:10,720 --> 00:48:17,680
mills for the tax year 2027.
This resolution shall take effect and be

616
00:48:15,760 --> 00:48:22,400
enforced immediately upon its adoption
and shall remain in effect until further

617
00:48:19,680 --> 00:48:27,119
action is taken by the board of health
county commissioners of Pratt County,

618
00:48:24,319 --> 00:48:30,880
Kansas. Adopted this sleep day of
September 2026.

619
00:48:28,880 --> 00:48:35,680
» It's actually a roll call vote on this.
So, I'm just going to call it yay or

620
00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:38,680
nay. Chairman Trinkle.
>> Yay.

621
00:48:39,599 --> 00:48:46,440
» Commissioner Jones.
>> Yes.

622
00:48:42,319 --> 00:48:46,440
Commissioner Shy. Yes.

623
00:48:46,800 --> 00:48:56,280
Motion passes. Constituent is certified
and then you guys can execute the

624
00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:56,280
resolution.

625
00:49:38,400 --> 00:49:47,920
Do I hear a motion to close the revenue
with neutral rate hearing?

626
00:49:46,880 --> 00:49:50,640
» So moved.
>> I'll second.

627
00:49:48,640 --> 00:49:54,319
» Been moved and second to close a revenue
rate hearing. All in favor say I.

628
00:49:52,960 --> 00:50:00,640
» I.
>> Oppose. same signs. Revenue neutral rate

629
00:49:57,599 --> 00:50:06,319
hearing is closed.
Now, do I hear a

630
00:50:03,119 --> 00:50:09,680
motion to open the
county budget hearing?

631
00:50:08,559 --> 00:50:11,920
» I'll make that motion.
>> I'll second.

632
00:50:10,240 --> 00:50:15,119
» It's been moved and seconded to open the
county budget hearing. All in favor say

633
00:50:14,240 --> 00:50:22,559
I.
>> I. Oppose. Same sign. And uh each person

634
00:50:19,839 --> 00:50:28,440
will have three minutes to voice their
concerns from the public if they're

635
00:50:24,400 --> 00:50:28,440
interested in saying anything.

636
00:50:29,200 --> 00:50:34,800
» We already did that, didn't we?
[laughter]

637
00:50:32,240 --> 00:50:37,760
» Again, your procedure. I I I overstepped
my boundaries.

638
00:50:35,440 --> 00:50:43,359
» No, no, it happened.
>> We're statutoily required to go in this

639
00:50:40,880 --> 00:50:48,040
» and any comment is better than whenever
it happens.

640
00:50:44,800 --> 00:50:48,040
» Doesn't matter.

641
00:50:48,240 --> 00:50:56,079
We'll wait a few minutes just in case.
>> Scott, you got anything to say on the

642
00:50:53,359 --> 00:51:01,119
budget? [clears throat]
>> No, I I think I think uh it's just

643
00:50:58,480 --> 00:51:04,880
really complicated the way the process
you can just see all hear all the word

644
00:51:02,640 --> 00:51:09,359
the verbiage. And what's really
interesting is um I don't know how many

645
00:51:07,599 --> 00:51:13,760
firms are down to but like see it's kind
of like attorneys. There's a shortage of

646
00:51:11,280 --> 00:51:18,559
attorneys in the government world and
there's a shortage of CPAs in the

647
00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:23,680
government world. And none, as far as I
know, still today, none of the

648
00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:31,200
universities or colleges in Kansas teach
government. And so what used to happen

649
00:51:27,599 --> 00:51:36,640
was a CPA firm would do taxes and then
do government the rest of the year to

650
00:51:33,520 --> 00:51:41,359
kind of like a trucker like backhaul.
And uh so what happened after COVID is

651
00:51:39,839 --> 00:51:44,640
people couldn't find anybody to work so
they just basically took tax season

652
00:51:42,960 --> 00:51:49,839
because that's where you make a lot of
your money really. And uh so nobody want

653
00:51:47,760 --> 00:51:52,240
to do government. Well the problem is if
you don't have those all those firms

654
00:51:51,280 --> 00:51:56,720
across Kansas doing student doing
government. There's nobody to feed into

655
00:51:54,800 --> 00:52:01,359
these different government positions and
they're not teaching in college. So,

656
00:51:58,720 --> 00:52:06,400
we're we're really in a vacuum right now
of trying to find people that have that

657
00:52:03,839 --> 00:52:11,920
knowledge, you know, of of government
and um because it's not easy. I mean,

658
00:52:09,599 --> 00:52:15,760
like for example, someone asked, I'm I'm
speaking next

659
00:52:13,920 --> 00:52:20,800
Thursday, it's called the Kansas Power
Pool. Uh they have bunch of cities. I

660
00:52:19,440 --> 00:52:24,160
don't know Pratt. I think Pratt might be
in that too.

661
00:52:21,760 --> 00:52:27,839
» But anyway, it's it Pratt city. But
anyway, it they wanted me to come and

662
00:52:26,160 --> 00:52:31,280
talk about, you know, just just what
we're talking about here, revenue

663
00:52:28,960 --> 00:52:38,800
neutral rate. Uh revenue neutral rate.
Think about this. So, if you at home had

664
00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:44,480
a lockdown of your income for six years.
Uh and in that same six-year period,

665
00:52:41,599 --> 00:52:49,200
it's a roughly a 30 to 32% increase in
inflation. So, what happens at the

666
00:52:46,880 --> 00:52:53,839
county level is when when that's locked
down, it happens in counties more than

667
00:52:51,280 --> 00:52:57,520
cities. cities have like Pratt here has
electric and other utilities,

668
00:52:56,400 --> 00:53:01,280
» other ways to make money.
>> Other ways to make money. Okay. And

669
00:52:59,599 --> 00:53:05,520
that's why some of these like Barber,
I'm I'm helping Barber, but that's why

670
00:53:02,720 --> 00:53:09,200
they signed the Google, you know, data a
lot of them because that's the way

671
00:53:06,800 --> 00:53:12,720
another way to to make, you know, and
make money. But what's really

672
00:53:10,480 --> 00:53:17,920
interesting is when you it's like at
home lock down revenue, uh, 32% where

673
00:53:16,400 --> 00:53:21,520
you going to get your resources to do
all these expenses we've been talking

674
00:53:19,599 --> 00:53:25,520
about. And so what what ends up
happening is unencumbered cash, which is

675
00:53:23,839 --> 00:53:31,520
the amount of cash sitting there to pay
these bills, uh depletes. I had one

676
00:53:28,240 --> 00:53:36,480
county uh they had to cut I don't
remember what they cut, but um they were

677
00:53:34,400 --> 00:53:40,880
down at the end of 25, they were down to
$6,925

678
00:53:38,240 --> 00:53:47,200
in the general fund up in Brown County.
And that's a that's a $229 million

679
00:53:44,079 --> 00:53:51,680
county. You're about a $190 million
county based on assessed value. So I

680
00:53:49,599 --> 00:53:55,359
asked him I'll show up at this but I
grew up in Shitakqua County which is the

681
00:53:53,760 --> 00:53:59,040
poorest county in the state of Kent.
Okay. And we we own Pearl Bank. There's

682
00:53:57,359 --> 00:54:05,200
we always did well. I mean my family my
dad was a banker there for 56 years but

683
00:54:01,359 --> 00:54:09,440
not one black top road in Shitaka County
except for the state highway. And so

684
00:54:07,680 --> 00:54:13,119
Brown County I was telling them there
was several citizens there. I go well

685
00:54:11,839 --> 00:54:16,400
this is what it comes down to. You're
you're not getting a black you're not

686
00:54:14,559 --> 00:54:21,359
getting chip and seal this year of 90
miles.

687
00:54:17,920 --> 00:54:25,680
And there they have 280
miles of laptop the county takes care

688
00:54:24,160 --> 00:54:31,839
of.
I said I said well I'd like to have just

689
00:54:28,800 --> 00:54:36,640
even 10 miles of that in Chiakaco County
and and that's really there's it's so

690
00:54:33,920 --> 00:54:41,599
hard Comanche County right out here. Uh
I don't know how much they have black

691
00:54:38,400 --> 00:54:46,760
top chip and seal but they have a mill
levy of 162

692
00:54:46,800 --> 00:54:57,040
because see that's what people don't
understand. Cess value here is 190. Uh

693
00:54:52,000 --> 00:55:02,839
Brown County is 229. Sumar county is 348
348 million. Theirs is 26,500,000.

694
00:55:03,040 --> 00:55:09,520
So see the difference between one mill
26,500

695
00:55:06,640 --> 00:55:15,280
and Sar County's got 348,000 for every
meal they have and that's why industry

696
00:55:12,160 --> 00:55:20,160
and you know other other means of you
know having having the tax base that's

697
00:55:17,280 --> 00:55:24,160
why the tax base is talked about but
it's just it's just hard you know to

698
00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:28,480
balance all that I and then next
Thursday they asked me to speak on the

699
00:55:26,079 --> 00:55:33,280
future of the political system next
spring I go I can't I don't have a

700
00:55:30,960 --> 00:55:37,280
crystal ball you I mean, and what they
were wanting is, so let's just say, I'm

701
00:55:36,079 --> 00:55:43,520
just going to play this out. Let's just
say Tai Masterson gets elected. He's a

702
00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:48,720
Republican, and the House and Senate are
Republican, and they're the ones driving

703
00:55:46,160 --> 00:55:54,079
this these these laws they were talking
about, what one of them was a cap of 3%,

704
00:55:51,440 --> 00:55:57,920
I think it was 3% on assessed value.
>> Okay. Well, that's how a lot of times

705
00:55:56,160 --> 00:56:02,400
these governments fund is whatever that
assessed value goes up, they leave the

706
00:56:00,880 --> 00:56:06,960
meal levy the same. I' I've done that
for 40 years, you know. Yeah. And you

707
00:56:04,880 --> 00:56:10,880
leave the mill the same. So, yes, the
people that have the increase in

708
00:56:08,240 --> 00:56:14,880
assessed value uh do have a tax
increase, but you're trying to trying to

709
00:56:12,880 --> 00:56:19,760
keep it at least steady or up just a
little bit. So, I don't know if they

710
00:56:17,760 --> 00:56:24,079
vote if they run those same laws through
and you have a governor that's on their

711
00:56:21,839 --> 00:56:28,160
side, what's that going to do? And
that's what they were trying want me to

712
00:56:25,599 --> 00:56:31,520
speak to next Thursday. I have no idea.
You know, like good practice if you want

713
00:56:29,839 --> 00:56:34,640
to do that one and then go up to the
legislature and do

714
00:56:34,249 --> 00:56:38,319
[laughter]
>> Tyson will go with you.

715
00:56:35,920 --> 00:56:41,839
» Yeah. Tyson go.
>> We'll support you.

716
00:56:39,440 --> 00:56:45,440
» Yeah. We'll get we'll get uh the
counties association on board if you

717
00:56:43,520 --> 00:56:48,240
really Well, they've already I've
already [laughter]

718
00:56:47,119 --> 00:56:53,960
here's the other thing.
>> I bet we can find someone you for you to

719
00:56:49,839 --> 00:56:53,960
stay with, too. I bet

720
00:56:54,400 --> 00:57:02,160
» what what what is really interesting is
it's what he's saying is the Kansas

721
00:56:59,280 --> 00:57:05,520
Association of Counties and there's two
main ones in the government side. The

722
00:57:03,760 --> 00:57:10,880
can Association of Counties for Counties
level and then the League of Kansas

723
00:57:07,920 --> 00:57:12,400
Municipalities. Okay, those are two very
powerful

724
00:57:11,920 --> 00:57:17,280
» lobbying
>> lobbying groups. Okay.

725
00:57:15,040 --> 00:57:21,040
One of the challenges with this 18
mandates they're talking about here that

726
00:57:19,280 --> 00:57:27,599
you're you know the states sending them
down but there's no money with them is

727
00:57:24,079 --> 00:57:34,799
uh of the KAC I think 44 counties turned
in their information

728
00:57:29,680 --> 00:57:39,920
to study that 18 mandates. Okay. And so
105 counties so not even half turned

729
00:57:37,359 --> 00:57:44,480
them in and not all of them are members.
Okay. So you have to understand that.

730
00:57:42,480 --> 00:57:49,680
But what's the challenge is if you
looked at Pratt County's budget and you

731
00:57:46,559 --> 00:57:54,000
saw how they funded employee benefits,
uh the ones he just named off, all those

732
00:57:51,440 --> 00:57:57,280
he named off. Okay. Yeah. And then you
go to another county and they're

733
00:57:55,839 --> 00:58:00,559
probably going to fund it in a different
way.

734
00:57:58,319 --> 00:58:04,640
» So when you're trying what the KC wants
me to do, and I don't I don't think that

735
00:58:02,319 --> 00:58:09,440
I don't know if this is possible. school
districts you're talking about back

736
00:58:06,000 --> 00:58:14,079
there in school districts the every line
item in a school district budget and in

737
00:58:11,520 --> 00:58:18,079
the audit report is basically the same
for all school districts in the state of

738
00:58:15,839 --> 00:58:23,520
Kansas because of the department of
education. So you can do a comparison

739
00:58:21,359 --> 00:58:28,720
between school districts because each
fund and each line item is pretty much

740
00:58:26,319 --> 00:58:32,400
the same. So you can do these different
like you could do AI. You could go in

741
00:58:30,400 --> 00:58:37,280
and now I mean I just did this for the
meeting I have tonight at five is take

742
00:58:34,559 --> 00:58:42,559
all the documents throw them into AI and
tell me what I need to know about that.

743
00:58:39,839 --> 00:58:48,000
Okay. And it it kicked out a really nice
four-page summary. So I'm going to get a

744
00:58:44,799 --> 00:58:53,599
hot meeting tonight at 5. Okay. And but
in the in the schools you could do that.

745
00:58:51,599 --> 00:58:59,599
But if you did that on every one of the
of the counties, all 105 counties

746
00:58:56,960 --> 00:59:06,079
probably report things just a little
different. So KAC says, would you write

747
00:59:02,160 --> 00:59:10,480
a white paper? Okay, that would go in
and tell like SE sesses or these, you

748
00:59:09,119 --> 00:59:18,240
know, all the different people that
report how to record every transaction

749
00:59:14,480 --> 00:59:24,000
they deal with. Now, think about that.
I'm I'm just turned 65. I got my

750
00:59:20,400 --> 00:59:28,160
Medicare. Okay. I don't know. I don't I
don't know if I could get that done by

751
00:59:25,839 --> 00:59:34,079
85, you know, but that's what that's the
battle you face. And cities are exactly

752
00:59:30,480 --> 00:59:39,200
the same way. If a city has electric,
they are usually set. Okay. I just I'm

753
00:59:37,520 --> 00:59:42,240
just Pratt city's probably watching.
They probably don't like hear this, but

754
00:59:40,559 --> 00:59:45,839
Pratt City, when you have electric, it's
a cash cow. Now, I don't know if you

755
00:59:44,079 --> 00:59:49,440
you're not into Pratt City, but what was
it five four years ago? They were about

756
00:59:48,240 --> 00:59:54,000
out of money in their electric because
they hadn't raised the rate since 2012

757
00:59:52,079 --> 01:00:01,119
and they raised it and the consultant
said raise it 40%. In one year, okay,

758
00:59:57,760 --> 01:00:05,200
and they raised it 21% I believe is what
it was. Okay? And I learned a lot that I

759
01:00:04,079 --> 01:00:09,599
helped them two years because they
didn't have a finance director. And what

760
01:00:07,440 --> 01:00:13,520
I didn't understand is like in a city
for example, if your water rate because

761
01:00:11,760 --> 01:00:20,640
they have a water problem, okay, a major
water problem, okay? If your rate is

762
01:00:17,359 --> 01:00:25,280
below 50 percentile of all rates in the
state of Kansas, you will not get a

763
01:00:22,400 --> 01:00:30,400
grant. Okay? And if you're going to do a
$60 million uh nitrate plant, you're not

764
01:00:29,040 --> 01:00:32,480
going to you're not going to get you're
not going to do it on your own. You

765
01:00:31,359 --> 01:00:37,760
know, you're going to have to have grant
or money on site. And so what's

766
01:00:34,880 --> 01:00:44,079
interesting about that is theirs was at
below 25% of this percentile. So they

767
01:00:41,200 --> 01:00:50,319
raised that one 48% you know and they're
not that happens in almost every city I

768
01:00:47,280 --> 01:00:55,680
work with the rates because you have
this balance counties don't have that

769
01:00:52,000 --> 01:01:00,319
all they have basically is avalor tax
you know but these cities they have this

770
01:00:58,240 --> 01:01:06,559
how how much do I charge utilities how
much do I charge taxes and then uh there

771
01:01:03,520 --> 01:01:09,359
just there just a so many moving pieces
try to explain that to a citizen

772
01:01:09,352 --> 01:01:13,119
[laughter]
>> exactly There there's a lot there.

773
01:01:11,200 --> 01:01:18,559
» There is there's just so much there.
>> So what

774
01:01:14,960 --> 01:01:19,520
leverage slashinccome besides a tax base
payers?

775
01:01:19,200 --> 01:01:23,520
» Yeah.
>> Does the county have?

776
01:01:22,000 --> 01:01:28,480
» Well, you want me to give an example? I
can give a couple examples. So here they

777
01:01:26,400 --> 01:01:30,640
would have, you know, like wind power
and some of that that helps fund some of

778
01:01:30,240 --> 01:01:35,520
that.
>> So the the county has contribution

779
01:01:33,359 --> 01:01:38,720
agreements where each of those projects
makes a yearly payment to the county.

780
01:01:38,000 --> 01:01:43,599
Mhm.
>> Roughly that number with the two wind,

781
01:01:41,599 --> 01:01:46,559
the solar,
>> the battery

782
01:01:44,799 --> 01:01:49,760
» battery when it comes on will be just
under $2 million

783
01:01:48,880 --> 01:01:52,480
» total.
>> But that's [clears throat] a locked in

784
01:01:50,720 --> 01:01:55,920
contract over five years, 10 years. Is
it a year to year?

785
01:01:53,520 --> 01:02:01,520
» Most projects 10 most of them only have
so wind farm life of project they those

786
01:01:59,599 --> 01:02:06,240
wind farms have the lifetime exemp
exemption that I mentioned earlier. The

787
01:02:04,799 --> 01:02:11,760
other projects that don't have the
lifetime are 10-year agreements

788
01:02:09,680 --> 01:02:14,960
um because their exemption only runs for
10 years. So basically during the

789
01:02:13,119 --> 01:02:18,559
exemption period they've agreed to
contribute a certain amount of money

790
01:02:16,319 --> 01:02:24,160
annually. Yeah.
>> And right now a lot of that is which

791
01:02:21,440 --> 01:02:29,440
we'll pay it off next year is for the
building of it.

792
01:02:26,480 --> 01:02:34,000
We kind of use that money for
>> it's to fund capital

793
01:02:32,319 --> 01:02:36,559
is our capital improvement plan kind of
like

794
01:02:34,400 --> 01:02:40,720
» Yeah. So the taxpayers aren't
necessarily paying for the calf bump

795
01:02:38,240 --> 01:02:46,000
rooms. Those contribution payments are
funding that right now.

796
01:02:44,240 --> 01:02:52,319
» And each county is different. So go back
to Sumar. Uh they have a jail. I I I've

797
01:02:51,359 --> 01:02:57,920
never worked with them where it's the
first time. They have 185 bed jail.

798
01:02:55,599 --> 01:03:03,599
Okay. And I don't know when they built
it, but they have about 83 prisoners

799
01:03:00,960 --> 01:03:09,839
right now. Kind of run 80 around that is
generating 200,000

800
01:03:06,000 --> 01:03:14,640
a month uh for that jail from federal
inmates. Okay. Now, you go to each

801
01:03:12,720 --> 01:03:19,119
county, there'll be some we don't want
to run a motel for the, you know, for

802
01:03:16,720 --> 01:03:23,599
the prisoners. Okay. Or we don't they'll
just have a there's just so many

803
01:03:20,799 --> 01:03:28,000
different viewpoints on that. and they
wanting to they wanting to put 20 more

804
01:03:25,680 --> 01:03:32,160
in and that'd be another million dollars
a year, you know. But then you got to

805
01:03:30,319 --> 01:03:34,000
have staffing, [clears throat] you know.
>> Got to have the building.

806
01:03:32,880 --> 01:03:38,400
» Got to have the building.
>> Have the building and then you have to

807
01:03:37,520 --> 01:03:39,920
do it.
>> Yeah.

808
01:03:38,799 --> 01:03:46,240
» To the feds.
>> Yep. Yep.

809
01:03:42,960 --> 01:03:50,960
» Now the sheriff can run the jail.
But if you start taking in federal

810
01:03:47,839 --> 01:03:55,839
inmates located
and then you go over to Mane County,

811
01:03:53,440 --> 01:04:00,480
they don't even have a jail. Okay. And
their their sheriff and 911 is probably

812
01:03:58,319 --> 01:04:06,160
about the size of this room. That's
their building. I mean, it just it's

813
01:04:04,000 --> 01:04:09,760
really kind of crazy. Yeah.
>> Yeah.

814
01:04:07,680 --> 01:04:16,000
» You know, you was talking about the mil.
>> Yeah. I've been

815
01:04:13,599 --> 01:04:24,319
fire chief down here southwest part of
the county coat area almost 40 years and

816
01:04:20,000 --> 01:04:31,520
I was on the township board and
you know we're we're like at 1.3 mills

817
01:04:27,839 --> 01:04:34,160
that gets us like $13,000
because there's not much there to tax.

818
01:04:33,359 --> 01:04:38,480
» Yeah.
>> But that 1.3 mills up in the Preston

819
01:04:36,319 --> 01:04:42,319
area brings in $30,000.
>> Yeah.

820
01:04:40,960 --> 01:04:44,640
Well, I think more than that.
>> Well, probably now

821
01:04:43,280 --> 01:04:49,920
» because I was on the board up there for
a while and we were under a mill and it

822
01:04:46,880 --> 01:04:52,559
was close to 80,000.
>> Yeah.

823
01:04:51,119 --> 01:04:54,160
» You see the difference of the mills
there?

824
01:04:53,039 --> 01:04:59,200
» That's within the county.
>> You know, we don't have much oil or gas

825
01:04:56,160 --> 01:05:02,640
or anything down there. Homes aren't
really great and there not many of them.

826
01:05:01,920 --> 01:05:06,799
» Yeah.
>> There's really just nothing to tax.

827
01:05:04,880 --> 01:05:09,799
» That's right.
>> So,

828
01:05:10,240 --> 01:05:17,920
And one thing that I'll have to say um
Amy's the county treasurer and we we

829
01:05:15,760 --> 01:05:22,480
kind of tackled this last year,
>> but another big thing is uh in the

830
01:05:20,640 --> 01:05:28,480
counties and I just went out to Graham
County uh last week to talk to three

831
01:05:25,200 --> 01:05:33,520
bankers on this but uh here I don't know
it is about 1.64 interest rate on all

832
01:05:31,520 --> 01:05:35,440
the county money about it been a year
ago August I think is when we were

833
01:05:35,039 --> 01:05:38,240
talking.
>> He's talking about idle funds.

834
01:05:36,559 --> 01:05:41,920
» So idle funds. when you have money
sitting there, you know, between the

835
01:05:39,440 --> 01:05:46,400
each of the funds and they have a state
law that says basically they're supposed

836
01:05:43,760 --> 01:05:50,160
to pay the 90-day T bill rate on idle
funds. That's money that's not in your

837
01:05:48,559 --> 01:05:57,920
operations. It's sitting there for
future capital improvements, whatever.

838
01:05:52,880 --> 01:06:01,760
So Morgan and session I think
>> I am Amy did. Amy did. Yeah, Amy came

839
01:06:00,400 --> 01:06:06,079
down. I guess she's weren't in that.
Sometimes the clerk is, sometimes

840
01:06:03,200 --> 01:06:11,520
they're not. So we sat down with the two
bankers here.

841
01:06:07,520 --> 01:06:15,039
And uh I think the rate was they just
walked in and they said, "Yeah, we'll

842
01:06:12,559 --> 01:06:18,480
pay the 90-day TBO rate." That was 4.25,
but see, they're not going to come over

843
01:06:16,160 --> 01:06:25,520
and tell you that unless you ask.
>> Okay. So, we asked. I think this year

844
01:06:21,119 --> 01:06:30,720
it'll probably be about $500,000
off of the idle fund money over the year

845
01:06:28,319 --> 01:06:35,920
that they'll get out of that out of that
from it was like maybe 160,000. So, you

846
01:06:34,480 --> 01:06:38,319
know, I mean, that's that's quite a bit
of money. That's like two mills

847
01:06:37,359 --> 01:06:41,839
probably,
>> more than.

848
01:06:39,359 --> 01:06:47,119
» So, so, and this happens in every there
just so many little things that people

849
01:06:43,760 --> 01:06:50,559
need to know. Hill City saw me uh uh
Graham, he called me up and said, "Would

850
01:06:48,880 --> 01:06:55,039
you come talk to me?" This I'd never
seen one like this. They had nine and a

851
01:06:52,720 --> 01:07:00,319
half million average balance and just in
like their kind of their checking

852
01:06:56,240 --> 01:07:03,711
account in this one bank. $984
is all they paid on interest last year.

853
01:07:02,799 --> 01:07:06,400
Okay.
>> [laughter]

854
01:07:04,079 --> 01:07:10,400
» So when the guy comes over, I had this
worksheet for 25 and 26 just showing how

855
01:07:08,799 --> 01:07:16,480
much interest it should have been based
on that. It's average of probably around

856
01:07:13,119 --> 01:07:20,559
3.75 to 4% is kind of what the 90-day
TBO rate is. They should have paid if

857
01:07:19,119 --> 01:07:26,640
they paid on the full amount about
400,000. You guys saw that banker try to

858
01:07:23,280 --> 01:07:29,359
explain that one. $984 and it should
have been closer to $400,000

859
01:07:28,000 --> 01:07:30,799
» because you know they were making the
money.

860
01:07:29,760 --> 01:07:34,880
» Yeah. Yeah.
>> Exactly. So, there's just there's a lot

861
01:07:32,480 --> 01:07:39,119
of things like that that you just got to
kind of keep on top of it and uh but

862
01:07:37,280 --> 01:07:45,400
it's there's so many rules. I mean,
there's just so many rules.

863
01:07:41,119 --> 01:07:45,400
» I'll shut up. I I get what I

864
01:07:46,799 --> 01:07:53,440
Eddie,
>> do you have a question? Maybe

865
01:07:50,720 --> 01:08:02,720
» I'm sorry. Well, uh I'm sorry to be
late, but another obligation. My my

866
01:07:57,440 --> 01:08:06,160
question was what what are you doing in
investigation

867
01:08:04,559 --> 01:08:14,400
in
uh information and public

868
01:08:10,319 --> 01:08:19,920
comment on the data center?
What where are we as far as Pratt County

869
01:08:18,400 --> 01:08:26,400
goes
as far as talks? Um,

870
01:08:23,759 --> 01:08:29,440
» we have not been contacted by anybody.
>> I want to be really clear about this

871
01:08:28,000 --> 01:08:33,600
because you're not the only person
that's asked this question and I don't

872
01:08:31,279 --> 01:08:39,759
know who's out in the public suggesting
otherwise. The county is not talking to

873
01:08:36,640 --> 01:08:43,600
any company about a data center.
>> None.

874
01:08:41,279 --> 01:08:50,239
Not in the background, not nothing.
>> Yes. To the extent that there is

875
01:08:47,759 --> 01:08:54,400
anybody that does approach the county,
the county will work with outside

876
01:08:52,159 --> 01:09:00,319
counsel on a county is already working
with outside council on a comprehensive

877
01:08:56,560 --> 01:09:04,719
plan which goes through our zoning. If a
data center

878
01:09:02,480 --> 01:09:08,640
even considers here, we'll have data
center specific regulations through

879
01:09:06,640 --> 01:09:12,719
zoning that address what they can and
cannot do.

880
01:09:10,239 --> 01:09:15,920
» And all of those are really big ifs.
They don't just build data centers

881
01:09:14,400 --> 01:09:20,880
willy-nilly.
To the extent that to the extent that

882
01:09:18,640 --> 01:09:24,960
they're we're contacted, the public will
be made aware that we've been contacted

883
01:09:23,279 --> 01:09:27,920
» and there'll be public hearings through
zoning

884
01:09:25,759 --> 01:09:31,199
» multiple not just I mean there'll be
hearings in at the zoning level.

885
01:09:29,920 --> 01:09:38,239
There'll be hearings at the commission
level. All of it will be done in public.

886
01:09:34,080 --> 01:09:46,719
Well, I was at a at a meeting and people
were saying things and I

887
01:09:42,239 --> 01:09:52,400
» I just couldn't think that
this would be an under the table thing

888
01:09:49,279 --> 01:10:00,480
that you would not
not really inform the public because

889
01:09:56,320 --> 01:10:06,239
that gets you in trouble down the line
and and you've experienced that. not

890
01:10:03,600 --> 01:10:12,640
this council, not this commission, but
the commission before

891
01:10:08,719 --> 01:10:17,440
» and I thought I I really had very little
knowledge except rumor.

892
01:10:15,360 --> 01:10:20,560
» And that that is exactly what it is.
>> So I just thought I couldn't come at

893
01:10:19,679 --> 01:10:28,320
night.
>> Yeah. I thought I would come and say

894
01:10:25,199 --> 01:10:35,520
uh if you do
uh

895
01:10:29,920 --> 01:10:41,440
need to or find the the need to start
talking about it. Will you do it? I I

896
01:10:39,760 --> 01:10:49,280
mean don't just say, "Well, every
meeting's public. Anybody can come but

897
01:10:45,679 --> 01:10:55,040
say we're going to talk about this and
it won't be anformational meeting.

898
01:10:52,800 --> 01:10:59,760
» There will be multiple meetings at
different places, zoning meetings, board

899
01:10:57,760 --> 01:11:02,960
meetings, it will I mean it's hard for
me to predict what a future meeting will

900
01:11:01,520 --> 01:11:06,159
look like, but to the extent there's a
data center, there'll be multiple

901
01:11:04,320 --> 01:11:10,560
meetings on it. The public will be aware
of it. The public will be allowed to

902
01:11:08,080 --> 01:11:14,080
provide input and comment
>> at those meetings. I understand what

903
01:11:12,719 --> 01:11:19,840
you're saying and and that's kind of
what I ran on when I got in here and you

904
01:11:17,280 --> 01:11:21,600
can ask Tyson. I like everything out.
>> Yes.

905
01:11:20,159 --> 01:11:28,640
» That's why we have our
>> I I I don't I don't believe in that. Uh

906
01:11:26,560 --> 01:11:32,719
there's some things that attorney client
that I think ought to be out that he

907
01:11:30,480 --> 01:11:39,280
doesn't. We have other
but for me and I'm not speaking for

908
01:11:35,760 --> 01:11:42,320
these guys but uh I want everything out.
The public needs to know because it's

909
01:11:41,280 --> 01:11:46,159
their tax dollars.
>> Yeah. You know, it's not ours every

910
01:11:45,120 --> 01:11:50,320
week.
>> We want everything out to the public.

911
01:11:48,400 --> 01:11:57,679
So, and if they have a question, they
can back with us and we can we

912
01:11:54,960 --> 01:12:00,400
» put the rumor to stop.
>> Yeah.

913
01:11:58,159 --> 01:12:05,600
» You're not the only one.
>> I think it's kind of too bad and I'm

914
01:12:02,640 --> 01:12:12,080
probably saying more than what you asked
me to say. I think it's too bad we don't

915
01:12:08,960 --> 01:12:14,560
have an oldtime
>> newspaper,

916
01:12:12,560 --> 01:12:19,600
» public newspaper
>> and you can just you could just put out

917
01:12:16,960 --> 01:12:24,400
an announcement that this is on the
agenda.

918
01:12:20,800 --> 01:12:28,960
» Yeah. And the Tribune, you know, they'll
post the city's meetings all the time.

919
01:12:27,360 --> 01:12:31,920
» They don't even come to ours.
>> Yeah. They don't even come to ours

920
01:12:30,239 --> 01:12:36,239
anymore. And I don't know if it's
because we put them on Zoom or where you

921
01:12:34,719 --> 01:12:37,280
can watch them or
>> Yeah.

922
01:12:36,800 --> 01:12:40,880
» Well,
>> what the deal is.

923
01:12:38,239 --> 01:12:50,719
» And I know you can you can watch this,
but I I'm just I don't know. It's my old

924
01:12:45,760 --> 01:12:54,880
lady mine that says we we need to let
>> Well, I know if we are ever contacted,

925
01:12:53,120 --> 01:12:58,480
there will be public meetings. Rick and
I were on the planning board when the

926
01:12:57,120 --> 01:13:04,880
wind farm started.
>> Yeah. There was we had

927
01:13:02,400 --> 01:13:08,880
numerous public meetings out at the
fairgrounds

928
01:13:06,560 --> 01:13:14,159
» before that was ever decided upon. The
first the first one especially. Yeah. We

929
01:13:11,360 --> 01:13:15,920
met, you know, five or six hours at a
time.

930
01:13:14,560 --> 01:13:18,239
» Yeah. One night we didn't get out of
there till after midnight.

931
01:13:17,040 --> 01:13:22,800
» Yeah.
>> So there will be public hearings if

932
01:13:20,640 --> 01:13:26,480
we're ever contacted, but we have not
been

933
01:13:24,719 --> 01:13:30,159
» none. Zero. I just want to
>> none whatsoever. Yeah, I don't know

934
01:13:28,159 --> 01:13:33,760
who's spreading that. I think the last
one I heard they was gonna put one in

935
01:13:31,600 --> 01:13:39,679
the city of Pratt.
>> Well, and I I had another question since

936
01:13:36,800 --> 01:13:44,320
you gave permission.
>> Uh [clears throat]

937
01:13:41,280 --> 01:13:51,360
if the windfarm money
becomes available in another year, is

938
01:13:47,280 --> 01:13:59,520
that correct? That the the bonds on the
safety center will be paid out in 27.

939
01:13:55,679 --> 01:14:01,920
» Correct. Uh how will that wind farm
money

940
01:14:01,360 --> 01:14:09,120
» be used
>> be discussed and allocated?

941
01:14:04,640 --> 01:14:14,400
» Well, we have a capital improvement plan
and some of that will be used for that.

942
01:14:11,840 --> 01:14:18,640
And
you know, I'm just going to use an

943
01:14:15,760 --> 01:14:24,159
example. I'm going to use EMS. You know,
they have the power CS.

944
01:14:21,040 --> 01:14:28,640
one of those breaks, we'll probably use
capital improvement funds to replace it

945
01:14:26,560 --> 01:14:33,000
instead of coming out of EMS's budget
because those things are very expensive.

946
01:14:33,440 --> 01:14:38,320
» Yeah, she's going to bring you a copy of
that plan.

947
01:14:36,320 --> 01:14:40,960
» I can make a copy of this, but this is
our capital improvement. You can pass it

948
01:14:39,840 --> 01:14:44,000
back when you're done, too. Looking
because he was interested. I know both

949
01:14:42,320 --> 01:14:50,400
of you guys were. He's got everything
from 5 years, 10 years, 20 years out.

950
01:14:47,679 --> 01:14:56,080
» And and we go over it yearly and update
it. And you know, like this courthouse,

951
01:14:54,480 --> 01:15:03,679
you can see all the mold in the
ceilings. Our courthouse is falling

952
01:14:58,880 --> 01:15:08,320
apart. And it just we got to get it
fixed. The roof's bad.

953
01:15:06,640 --> 01:15:13,360
You know, we need a new sand pit. We're
about out of sand. We got to find a new

954
01:15:10,800 --> 01:15:18,080
sand pit. You know, these are things
that

955
01:15:14,800 --> 01:15:24,560
» but when that's discussed, I I would
think that would

956
01:15:20,480 --> 01:15:28,159
would require some public notification
also.

957
01:15:25,920 --> 01:15:34,960
» Yeah. I mean, we'll discuss it in open
session

958
01:15:30,640 --> 01:15:42,239
» because I have I'm a retired teacher and
I have teacher friends all over the

959
01:15:37,920 --> 01:15:46,640
state who have had bits and pieces of
wind farm money

960
01:15:44,560 --> 01:15:51,520
in the schools.
And right now it seems like the hospital

961
01:15:49,120 --> 01:15:57,280
needs it, but maybe by then they'll have
things. Uh I I just you know I think

962
01:15:55,600 --> 01:16:04,800
that's
that's one of those things that

963
01:16:01,040 --> 01:16:12,560
again needs to be be publicized more
than just on your agenda and that's my

964
01:16:09,120 --> 01:16:17,600
responsibility. I realize
pay attention to that.

965
01:16:15,679 --> 01:16:23,120
uh when they're going to do something
that important,

966
01:16:20,320 --> 01:16:26,400
maybe some extra
>> extra notification,

967
01:16:24,800 --> 01:16:30,239
» just,
you know, we're going to we're going to

968
01:16:28,400 --> 01:16:35,920
do this
and then if we don't go, then it really

969
01:16:33,840 --> 01:16:40,320
is.
>> So, um just so the public is aware, the

970
01:16:38,480 --> 01:16:46,080
county has a capital improvement plan
and a special equipment plan. And if you

971
01:16:42,880 --> 01:16:50,480
do look over those plans, those are not
guarantees that we're going to do any of

972
01:16:48,320 --> 01:16:55,280
that. The way it works is the department
heads come in, they request something be

973
01:16:52,880 --> 01:16:59,920
put in a plan, the commission approves
whether they'll put it in the plan. And

974
01:16:58,000 --> 01:17:04,800
again, it's not a contractual commitment
to anybody that is going to do it. It

975
01:17:02,640 --> 01:17:09,760
kind of works as a wish list. And it
also works off there's sometimes some

976
01:17:07,040 --> 01:17:14,800
like it's set up in immediate five 10
year increments, I think. something we

977
01:17:13,040 --> 01:17:19,840
that was set up for five years might
become an immediate need and it will

978
01:17:17,040 --> 01:17:25,440
jump up and any spending that's done out
of either the uh capital improvement or

979
01:17:22,800 --> 01:17:31,280
special equipment gets approved again
prior to any spending occurring.

980
01:17:28,640 --> 01:17:37,280
» Yeah, it's got to be it's got to be
allocated and open meeting.

981
01:17:33,199 --> 01:17:42,000
» Yeah. Well, it just I I think we need to
be

982
01:17:39,600 --> 01:17:47,040
we as the public need to be more
responsible,

983
01:17:44,000 --> 01:17:51,760
but I've just heard so many things about
the status center. I decided that

984
01:17:50,320 --> 01:17:55,520
» appreciate you coming in on that.
>> You're not the only one. I don't know

985
01:17:53,360 --> 01:17:58,080
who's spreading rumors, but yeah, I
mean, I get stopped all the time about

986
01:17:57,280 --> 01:18:03,840
it,
>> but if you come and you say no, we have

987
01:18:02,000 --> 01:18:06,640
done nothing. Yeah,
>> I'll believe you.

988
01:18:06,000 --> 01:18:10,640
» And
>> because normally they come and see us

989
01:18:08,719 --> 01:18:14,080
during a meeting, [clears throat]
>> but

990
01:18:11,280 --> 01:18:19,679
» so because some some people want it and
some people don't. And I have I don't

991
01:18:17,120 --> 01:18:24,000
have enough information to make a
determination.

992
01:18:21,280 --> 01:18:28,080
» Well, and that's a problem, too, because
you can find anything you want on the

993
01:18:25,840 --> 01:18:34,880
internet for it or against it. Whether
it's true or not, who knows?

994
01:18:31,440 --> 01:18:41,520
And I don't really know any of you,
but I'm Karen Pinkle

995
01:18:37,520 --> 01:18:45,679
» and I just I'm just
>> Yeah, we appreciate you coming in.

996
01:18:43,199 --> 01:18:51,760
» Yes.
>> But yeah, anything

997
01:18:48,560 --> 01:18:56,800
major, we try to get the word out that
we'll try to do better, I guess.

998
01:18:53,360 --> 01:19:02,239
» Yeah. on the on the zoning stuff. It's
not only try, it's statuto required that

999
01:18:59,440 --> 01:19:09,360
we have public meetings and that's what
would happen. And just and this isn't at

1000
01:19:06,000 --> 01:19:12,360
you just to the public in general.
Uh

1001
01:19:12,560 --> 01:19:18,880
I don't really know how to say what I
want to say, but I can say that rumors

1002
01:19:16,159 --> 01:19:26,480
aren't helpful
to the community. They're not helpful to

1003
01:19:21,840 --> 01:19:33,920
my board. We spend a good deal of time
and they spend taxpayer money paying me

1004
01:19:31,440 --> 01:19:40,320
to deal with those rumors.
>> We have quarter requests that are based

1005
01:19:36,640 --> 01:19:44,719
off rumors. That takes time. That takes
effort. And that's time and effort that

1006
01:19:42,800 --> 01:19:49,600
can be spent doing things that are
productive, not not responding to

1007
01:19:46,960 --> 01:19:56,400
rumors.
>> Well, and I understand that. and

1008
01:19:52,880 --> 01:20:00,080
technology has, you know, made it really
easy to spread through numbers.

1009
01:19:58,960 --> 01:20:09,440
» Yeah.
>> And uh so just I was just interested and

1010
01:20:07,679 --> 01:20:12,960
» anytime you got questions or hear
something, come see us.

1011
01:20:10,400 --> 01:20:16,960
» Yes, we're here every Monday at two.
>> Well, your line items in your budget. A

1012
01:20:14,880 --> 01:20:20,560
lot of these just placeholders. We think
we want to spend money here. We think

1013
01:20:18,400 --> 01:20:23,600
we're that rolls up to our budget. Yeah.
that you can substitute should another

1014
01:20:22,480 --> 01:20:26,159
emergency arise.
>> Yeah, absolutely.

1015
01:20:24,880 --> 01:20:28,239
» Yeah. So, let's say
>> there's no guarantee on any one of

1016
01:20:27,920 --> 01:20:33,600
those.
>> Fair enough. Fair enough. Yeah. It's not

1017
01:20:30,239 --> 01:20:37,520
a guarantee [laughter] because we've had
Well, let's say the air conditioner goes

1018
01:20:36,159 --> 01:20:40,960
out here.
>> Yes.

1019
01:20:37,840 --> 01:20:44,520
» You know, we got to replace it. So, we
move that up.

1020
01:20:44,719 --> 01:20:51,520
Well, and I have to say thank you for
your service because I know how much

1021
01:20:49,840 --> 01:20:58,560
time
this takes. And then to have

1022
01:20:55,280 --> 01:21:05,199
rumors take more time,
it's it's too bad.

1023
01:21:01,360 --> 01:21:10,480
But I'm
>> I'm interested to be here and kind of

1024
01:21:08,640 --> 01:21:18,960
see who you are
>> and I see your names and uh kind of know

1025
01:21:14,719 --> 01:21:23,360
about you, but I don't know. So,
>> I'll brag on them a little bit. That

1026
01:21:20,800 --> 01:21:28,560
that notebook right there, I don't know
of another county their size or even

1027
01:21:26,480 --> 01:21:32,320
larger that has the detail they have in
that notebook. Most

1028
01:21:30,400 --> 01:21:35,679
» that's Sasha.
Don't look at that. Sasha is the one

1029
01:21:33,920 --> 01:21:39,280
that paid that book. Yes,
>> it's all Sasha and her office.

1030
01:21:37,199 --> 01:21:43,440
» That's Tyson's suggestion.
>> We we talk about it a lot because it's

1031
01:21:41,600 --> 01:21:47,440
very important. It's like at home a five
to sevenyear plan, you know, where

1032
01:21:45,280 --> 01:21:51,600
you're at. And because those big costs
are what's going to make that meal levy,

1033
01:21:49,360 --> 01:21:57,040
you know, go up or whatever if you don't
have it planned out. and having a plan

1034
01:21:53,920 --> 01:22:00,639
like that flowing the receipt side up
here and the expenditure side down here

1035
01:21:59,280 --> 01:22:04,960
and it's just like at home and just
flowing making sure you're never in the

1036
01:22:02,239 --> 01:22:10,159
hole, you know, because uh people don't
understand that government you can't go

1037
01:22:07,199 --> 01:22:14,159
like to a line of credit at a bank, you
know, like if I wanted to go get money

1038
01:22:11,920 --> 01:22:17,199
for my firm and I needed some extra
money, I would go get a line of credit

1039
01:22:15,600 --> 01:22:21,520
at the bank, help me through a slow
period and then pay that back.

1040
01:22:19,600 --> 01:22:25,520
Governments can't do that. They can't go
get a line of credit. That's why we have

1041
01:22:22,960 --> 01:22:30,080
to have the unencumbered cash balances
to sustain uh what's going on. If the

1042
01:22:28,159 --> 01:22:34,480
air conditioner goes out, I think over
summer it was 450,000 in the jail. I

1043
01:22:32,960 --> 01:22:38,480
don't know what they are here.
>> Sorry about that much.

1044
01:22:35,840 --> 01:22:41,840
» But 450,000 is not something you just
you just write a check for, you know,

1045
01:22:40,159 --> 01:22:45,840
without making sure you've planned
appropriately. And they've done a

1046
01:22:43,760 --> 01:22:49,840
they've really done a good job. They've
all done a good job of make Tyson's

1047
01:22:47,920 --> 01:22:53,679
written uh the other thing that's neat
about this is there's I think they're

1048
01:22:51,679 --> 01:22:58,560
called resolutions for both the
equipment and the capital proment to say

1049
01:22:56,159 --> 01:23:02,560
how that once it gets in there how's it
spent and how do how do they walk that

1050
01:23:01,280 --> 01:23:05,920
through. So it's not like you're just
throwing a bunch of money in there and

1051
01:23:03,760 --> 01:23:09,440
it's a wish list. There's steps to go
through to make sure those are

1052
01:23:07,600 --> 01:23:12,480
appropriately spent. So
>> year over year do you increase that

1053
01:23:10,719 --> 01:23:18,480
basis upon what you perceive with
inflation meaning 3 to 5% year-over-year

1054
01:23:16,239 --> 01:23:23,199
the last couple years?
>> Well we have our department head kind of

1055
01:23:20,800 --> 01:23:26,000
review it and then we mark off what
we've done

1056
01:23:24,800 --> 01:23:31,360
» looking at your capital.
>> Yeah and even the special equipment. Uh

1057
01:23:29,199 --> 01:23:35,120
yeah, you know, something's, you know,
let's say somebody's going to remodel,

1058
01:23:32,960 --> 01:23:39,120
let's say, the jail,
>> you know, when that's a $3 million

1059
01:23:37,280 --> 01:23:43,040
project or whatever and it's been on the
list three or four years. We probably

1060
01:23:40,960 --> 01:23:47,760
ought
to raise that up a little bit, you know,

1061
01:23:44,880 --> 01:23:50,560
just from a place you like to say.
>> That's why we kind of go over it.

1062
01:23:50,159 --> 01:23:55,120
» Yeah.
>> Once a year and

1063
01:23:53,040 --> 01:23:58,000
» and who are you?
>> Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Scott. I'm Scott

1064
01:23:56,639 --> 01:24:05,639
Lloyd. Oh, you weren't here when I
stopped. I think I got a card.

1065
01:24:00,800 --> 01:24:05,639
» No, you just don't have a name plate.

1066
01:24:06,159 --> 01:24:12,400
» I just showed up because I love budget
meetings.

1067
01:24:09,040 --> 01:24:17,600
» You're a great paid individual.
>> He's a CPA that helps you with the

1068
01:24:14,719 --> 01:24:24,239
budget. Well, and I have another thing
that you're discussing.

1069
01:24:19,920 --> 01:24:30,480
» Um I I hear constantly about property
tax, property tax, property tax.

1070
01:24:27,440 --> 01:24:38,560
» And then I see we have two school
districts and a college and then we

1071
01:24:34,639 --> 01:24:46,320
compare ourselves to other counties and
it seems like that is not comparing

1072
01:24:42,080 --> 01:24:51,280
correctly. I mean, if we have three
entities, well, in a hospital, we have

1073
01:24:49,679 --> 01:24:57,440
four.
Uh,

1074
01:24:53,338 --> 01:25:04,800
[snorts] what what one of those do do
people want to drop off? I mean, which

1075
01:25:01,920 --> 01:25:10,400
which one of those four is not
important?

1076
01:25:06,560 --> 01:25:15,440
And why would we not have higher
property tax

1077
01:25:12,800 --> 01:25:18,760
because of that? Now, what's wrong with
my thinking?

1078
01:25:19,199 --> 01:25:26,080
» You know, the the two school thing,
we're not the only county that has two

1079
01:25:23,120 --> 01:25:32,880
high schools or two two schools in the
district. Uh Stafford County got St.

1080
01:25:30,080 --> 01:25:35,040
John, they've got Stafford.
So, they got three.

1081
01:25:33,920 --> 01:25:42,639
» Yeah.
in their deal. And if you look at our

1082
01:25:38,639 --> 01:25:47,120
at our taxing map,
you know, I'm going to use Skyline as an

1083
01:25:44,320 --> 01:25:50,000
example, but they actually go into
Barber County, and those people down

1084
01:25:48,719 --> 01:25:56,560
there are taxed, too.
>> Yeah. Well, I knew they sent buses down

1085
01:25:53,120 --> 01:25:59,760
there. And uh
>> the further west you get, the more

1086
01:25:58,239 --> 01:26:03,440
school districts you're in. You know,
like one school district, I got one I

1087
01:26:01,440 --> 01:26:06,159
audited out Winona. It's one of the
smallest in the state.

1088
01:26:05,120 --> 01:26:10,159
» They've got [clears throat] five school
districts in that one school. I mean,

1089
01:26:08,639 --> 01:26:14,560
five counties in that one school
district because they have such a big

1090
01:26:12,480 --> 01:26:19,199
area. So, it kind of depends, you know,
further west you go. And it's the same

1091
01:26:16,800 --> 01:26:24,080
with hospitals. hospitals when you go
from about Pratt to the Colorado line

1092
01:26:21,920 --> 01:26:28,560
almost every county has some kind of
relationship with a hospital and that

1093
01:26:26,800 --> 01:26:32,960
just comp I mean that that's a lot
there's a lot of additional funding I

1094
01:26:31,360 --> 01:26:36,239
mean that
>> so you can compare yourself with other

1095
01:26:35,520 --> 01:26:39,679
counties
>> you can because I thought maybe this was

1096
01:26:38,800 --> 01:26:42,400
unique
>> no

1097
01:26:40,560 --> 01:26:45,920
» we haven't lived here
>> now we have a cho that's unique

1098
01:26:44,320 --> 01:26:52,639
» that's unique yeah
>> the college but uh

1099
01:26:49,040 --> 01:27:01,199
you know, and and even the hospital,
yes, you are paying a sales tax for the

1100
01:26:55,520 --> 01:27:06,320
bonds, but as far as any taxes
going towards the hospital,

1101
01:27:03,920 --> 01:27:11,600
the only taxpayer money they get is what
we give our hospital board who oversees

1102
01:27:09,360 --> 01:27:14,639
the maintenance of the building. That's
correct.

1103
01:27:12,159 --> 01:27:18,960
» Which is about 80,000 a year.
>> No, it's pretty heavy. I think it's 300

1104
01:27:18,080 --> 01:27:24,560
» 350
>> 380 I think 350

1105
01:27:22,560 --> 01:27:28,239
» it's a pretty good
>> but again that's the physical the

1106
01:27:27,120 --> 01:27:33,600
county's assets
>> yeah we own the building so

1107
01:27:31,040 --> 01:27:36,960
» our hospital board
>> there's another one that's pretty

1108
01:27:34,639 --> 01:27:41,440
confusing when you talk about boards you
got the board that represents the entity

1109
01:27:39,120 --> 01:27:45,760
of the doctors in the facilities and
medical field and you got a board

1110
01:27:43,679 --> 01:27:51,199
represents the county which
>> manages the building in a

1111
01:27:47,920 --> 01:27:55,760
» Yeah, there's also one more board.
>> Yeah, [laughter] I'm going to bring that

1112
01:27:53,600 --> 01:27:58,719
up. You want to let go?
>> I mean, it's helpful. I mean, just in

1113
01:27:57,360 --> 01:28:04,320
case any members of the public are
watching, there's also a foundation

1114
01:28:00,560 --> 01:28:10,480
board and that that foundation is the
sole shareholder of VRMC.

1115
01:28:08,080 --> 01:28:13,520
So, even more complicated, but there,
you know, there's a lot of you're right,

1116
01:28:12,159 --> 01:28:18,880
it's complicated. There's a lot of
moving parts to it.

1117
01:28:15,280 --> 01:28:26,239
» Let's see. This is just I've I've become
more educated about that in the last few

1118
01:28:22,560 --> 01:28:29,600
months because of the problems. Maybe we
should have

1119
01:28:27,600 --> 01:28:34,239
» No, I don't.
>> Well, it's funny you bring up community

1120
01:28:32,239 --> 01:28:38,239
that
>> you bring up community college. So, the

1121
01:28:36,080 --> 01:28:42,159
way it used to happen when I first
started,

1122
01:28:40,159 --> 01:28:46,400
» uh it wasn't funded like locally like it
is now. you know, they just raised the

1123
01:28:43,600 --> 01:28:52,000
taxes and it's, you know, here. So, if
you were a student from Shitakqua County

1124
01:28:48,400 --> 01:28:58,800
and you came to Pratt County, okay, then
you actually your okay, Pra County would

1125
01:28:56,800 --> 01:29:01,120
send a notice. I don't know if it went
through the I can't remember if it went

1126
01:28:59,920 --> 01:29:06,239
through the clerk or straight to the
county clerk at Shiitaka County and that

1127
01:29:04,239 --> 01:29:10,000
county had to pay for that student
because they went to Pratt County. You

1128
01:29:08,000 --> 01:29:14,000
see what I'm saying? I mean, it was very
that was very complicated back then

1129
01:29:12,159 --> 01:29:16,560
because you had all these students going
everywhere and then they ch I don't know

1130
01:29:15,280 --> 01:29:19,840
what year they changed that. They
changed that here

1131
01:29:17,840 --> 01:29:24,400
» uh probably about 20 years ago.
>> Uh because they didn't think it was fair

1132
01:29:21,440 --> 01:29:27,440
that Pra County had to uh I'm not just
using PR county. They didn't think it's

1133
01:29:26,000 --> 01:29:32,080
fair that P County had to come up with
all the resources that that if that

1134
01:29:29,840 --> 01:29:35,920
student came from another county, that
county should help fund it. That's the

1135
01:29:33,840 --> 01:29:40,639
way it used to be. But they changed
that. [clears throat]

1136
01:29:38,719 --> 01:29:44,199
Well, thank you.
>> Thank you for coming.

1137
01:29:44,239 --> 01:29:49,600
» Anytime.
>> And if you get a copy of that, if you

1138
01:29:48,080 --> 01:29:56,007
get a copy of that capital improvement
book, it's great way to u uh fall asleep

1139
01:29:52,480 --> 01:29:56,007
at night. Okay. [laughter]

1140
01:29:57,760 --> 01:30:04,480
» On the budget. Yeah. I mean, it's
riveted. God's riv.

1141
01:30:03,040 --> 01:30:06,639
» So, did you look at that book? Do we
need to go upstairs and talk to you and

1142
01:30:06,080 --> 01:30:09,600
come back down?
>> Yeah. Yeah. or I get you a copy whatever

1143
01:30:08,480 --> 01:30:12,600
whatever it is.
>> Yeah.

1144
01:30:16,400 --> 01:30:25,159
» I just ask questions and another can of
worms opens about another board.

1145
01:30:21,199 --> 01:30:25,159
So I need to be careful

1146
01:30:25,840 --> 01:30:31,080
like my job. [laughter]
thing.

1147
01:30:32,000 --> 01:30:42,880
» Anybody else have any questions for the
on the hearing of the budget?

1148
01:30:39,520 --> 01:30:46,199
» Do you guys have any
>> any of us?

1149
01:30:47,120 --> 01:30:54,080
Do I hear a motion to
adopt our 2027 budget?

1150
01:30:52,400 --> 01:30:59,760
» I'll make that motion.
>> Second it. It's been moved and seconded

1151
01:30:56,080 --> 01:31:06,920
to adopt our 2027 budget. All in favor
say I. I. Oppose. Same sign. Motion

1152
01:31:03,920 --> 01:31:06,920
carries.

1153
01:31:30,639 --> 01:31:36,480
after that or you want me to wait until
I saw

1154
01:31:34,960 --> 01:31:39,960
» Oh, yeah. Just wait till it's done.
That's great. Y

1155
01:31:40,000 --> 01:31:43,880
» you've already sent that one.

1156
01:31:44,960 --> 01:31:48,560
» That so it's all t.
>> So then when it's done, just send a

1157
01:31:48,080 --> 01:31:52,840
stop.
>> Okay. Y

1158
01:31:49,280 --> 01:31:52,840
» I can do it.

1159
01:31:59,040 --> 01:32:05,120
I think it was about two years ago,
maybe three, two, I think at least, we

1160
01:32:03,440 --> 01:32:09,840
would we started doing a department head
training. So like when we would come

1161
01:32:06,560 --> 01:32:13,040
down usually in March or April and we'd
have all the department heads in here

1162
01:32:11,520 --> 01:32:17,920
because you know the flow of this
information is very important that all

1163
01:32:15,679 --> 01:32:22,480
levels understand it. You the citizens
also but it's very important the

1164
01:32:20,000 --> 01:32:27,600
department heads understand the nuances
of RNR revenue neutral rate how it

1165
01:32:25,440 --> 01:32:31,679
works. You can't just ask for a wish
list. you know, these are things that

1166
01:32:29,600 --> 01:32:34,800
are needed and then that that's how that
capital improvement, you know, we've

1167
01:32:32,960 --> 01:32:38,880
been working on that now for a while.
But that's a great it's usually about

1168
01:32:36,639 --> 01:32:42,480
two and a half hours that we work with
the just talking and they can ask

1169
01:32:40,480 --> 01:32:46,960
questions and the more the department
heads understand the budget, the better

1170
01:32:44,320 --> 01:32:51,440
it is for these people sitting here
because it's just it's a chain kind of

1171
01:32:48,639 --> 01:32:55,120
like a chain reaction, you know. And it
used to be when I did budgets, oh my

1172
01:32:53,360 --> 01:32:59,840
goodness, they would come in and and I'd
set not here at when I I used to do

1173
01:32:57,600 --> 01:33:04,800
Marian for a long time and they would
come in and I would put the numbers in

1174
01:33:02,080 --> 01:33:08,960
and it'd be 10 mills over last year's
budget because they'd have wish list,

1175
01:33:07,440 --> 01:33:15,040
you know, until [clears throat] you
train them to understand that. I mean,

1176
01:33:12,159 --> 01:33:20,000
it's good to want and we want better for
their department, but you can't just

1177
01:33:17,120 --> 01:33:24,159
throw, you know, oh, I want 200,000 here
or 200,000 here because that just

1178
01:33:21,679 --> 01:33:27,440
doesn't work. So, we we try to explain
that, you know, the best we can. I think

1179
01:33:25,920 --> 01:33:31,840
that's helped not just to
>> this is a good place to give more color,

1180
01:33:29,120 --> 01:33:36,320
too, and probably a good way to end, but
>> why don't you just walk through your

1181
01:33:34,239 --> 01:33:40,320
process with us each year and that way
the public's aware of what's happening.

1182
01:33:38,080 --> 01:33:42,239
So I had mentioned we have bud budget
study sessions earlier.

1183
01:33:41,920 --> 01:33:47,600
» Yeah.
>> Give color on the whole timeline how

1184
01:33:44,080 --> 01:33:52,800
this works. So, uh, and I I may miss if
I miss something, you jump in here, but

1185
01:33:49,679 --> 01:33:57,440
we we usually start around February or
March getting getting these counties

1186
01:33:54,880 --> 01:34:00,560
that we work with like Pratt uh, in
order and then we set up a calendar, do

1187
01:33:59,360 --> 01:34:06,000
session
>> and um, so like and and here here would

1188
01:34:04,080 --> 01:34:10,960
be like the budget calendar, okay, that
we would set up, but but we would do

1189
01:34:08,000 --> 01:34:16,480
like this year we did u department head
training on April 7th, okay? So April

1190
01:34:14,800 --> 01:34:20,639
7th, we come and we spend about three
hours. It's usually a morning and we go

1191
01:34:18,639 --> 01:34:24,560
through the budget, last year's budget,
go through the information, tell them

1192
01:34:22,320 --> 01:34:29,360
how to present their information to the
commission, okay? And and go through

1193
01:34:27,040 --> 01:34:33,120
that whole process. Then they go back
and work on their budget. Okay? So, and

1194
01:34:31,840 --> 01:34:37,280
if they have questions, they got my
card. I mean, they I I get calls and

1195
01:34:35,440 --> 01:34:41,760
they'll ask, "How should I do this or
how should I do that?" Then on April

1196
01:34:40,000 --> 01:34:46,639
5th, which is about I mean I'm sorry,
May 5th, about a month later, they would

1197
01:34:44,960 --> 01:34:51,360
actually come in and make their
presentation to the county commission

1198
01:34:49,199 --> 01:34:55,440
based on how they've put their budget
together and questions are asked. And

1199
01:34:53,440 --> 01:35:00,800
that's a good if you want to come to a
good one to understand how all the

1200
01:34:57,760 --> 01:35:04,480
departments uh work in the county. Not
all of them may like somebody might be

1201
01:35:02,480 --> 01:35:08,960
on vacation or somebody might be gone.
They'll come in our time, but most of

1202
01:35:06,320 --> 01:35:13,600
the department heads on on May 5th would
come in. It goes from it goes from 9:00

1203
01:35:11,440 --> 01:35:17,120
a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It usually gets done
about probably 2 or 3, but it's it's a

1204
01:35:16,159 --> 01:35:21,040
long day
>> and everybody comes in day, you know,

1205
01:35:19,760 --> 01:35:25,280
some of the questions that you were
asking. It's a great day. Yeah. And if

1206
01:35:23,600 --> 01:35:28,480
you wanted to go back and watch all
that's online,

1207
01:35:26,080 --> 01:35:33,360
» all that's online it's a good day. It's
a good learning day for every

1208
01:35:30,480 --> 01:35:38,159
» and I love it because uh even though
I've worked on Pratt for now I think

1209
01:35:35,199 --> 01:35:42,320
about my fifth year uh every year is a
little different and I always learn

1210
01:35:40,159 --> 01:35:46,080
something you know and I learn something
what they're maybe doing it also helps

1211
01:35:44,320 --> 01:35:50,000
me with other counties so you can kind
of say well that works over here you

1212
01:35:47,600 --> 01:35:56,239
know so that's that's a that's a big day
then I take all those or Lauren I she's

1213
01:35:53,199 --> 01:36:01,440
a lady that helps me in my firm um she
takes all those all those uh

1214
01:35:59,040 --> 01:36:06,480
presentations and we put together a
budget, okay, to the best of our ability

1215
01:36:04,080 --> 01:36:10,159
with everything we know. And then we
come back. The first time we come back

1216
01:36:08,320 --> 01:36:14,480
this year was June 16th. So about
another month we'll come back and that's

1217
01:36:12,239 --> 01:36:18,960
another great day to be that very first
time that we present uh all those

1218
01:36:17,040 --> 01:36:24,960
department heads put in the actual
budget because on June 15th, this is

1219
01:36:22,560 --> 01:36:31,120
June 16th. On June 15th, we get the
estimated assessed value from the

1220
01:36:28,560 --> 01:36:36,560
appraiser and that includes state assess
which came in I think on June 1st and

1221
01:36:33,280 --> 01:36:40,719
then all the other assessments uh are
put together and that's the estimated

1222
01:36:38,639 --> 01:36:46,080
assessed value. So this budget we just
approved is still on estimated assessed

1223
01:36:44,400 --> 01:36:50,880
value.
We they'll have it all signed and then

1224
01:36:48,000 --> 01:36:55,119
by October 1st they will actually have
the final value. clerk will go back

1225
01:36:53,440 --> 01:37:00,400
through it again, make sure everything's
ready to be able to send to the county

1226
01:36:57,119 --> 01:37:04,320
treasur for your tax statement. Okay.
Then after that rough draft, I don't

1227
01:37:02,719 --> 01:37:10,400
remember how many meetings we had this
year. Probably two more.

1228
01:37:06,560 --> 01:37:14,159
» We had some Zoom meetings.
Yeah. Or phone calls. You know,

1229
01:37:12,080 --> 01:37:18,080
sometimes there'll be a phone call. But
um so I come back and then we'll talk

1230
01:37:16,159 --> 01:37:22,000
about and then what we've done then is
we'll come down. I'll just give you an

1231
01:37:19,920 --> 01:37:26,639
example that happens in all counties. We
try to get all the budget done to the

1232
01:37:23,840 --> 01:37:31,679
best of our ability and at that point we
maybe haven't addressed a cola or a

1233
01:37:29,280 --> 01:37:36,400
raise for employees or we don't know
maybe what the health insurance raise is

1234
01:37:34,320 --> 01:37:41,199
going to be. Okay. So we'll know some of
that and we'll come back for another

1235
01:37:39,040 --> 01:37:45,360
meeting and just talk about these bigger
things that we need to figure out now

1236
01:37:43,280 --> 01:37:49,840
that we know all the littleer things.
Here's some big things. [clears throat]

1237
01:37:46,480 --> 01:37:54,159
How are we going to fund this? So um
I'll give you an example.

1238
01:37:51,840 --> 01:38:00,239
not here, but this just happened. Summer
County is new this year and they are

1239
01:37:56,560 --> 01:38:04,800
building a 911 center. Okay, now I'm not
bragging on myself. I'm just I'm just

1240
01:38:02,159 --> 01:38:10,239
bragging on I'm bragging on how we had
to have so many people working on this

1241
01:38:07,040 --> 01:38:18,000
piece to work. They did not have enough
money to build the two the right at $2

1242
01:38:13,600 --> 01:38:21,920
million 911 center. Okay. So, uh, by
statute, equipment reserve, you remember

1243
01:38:20,000 --> 01:38:27,440
how we talked about equipment reserve?
They have about $2 million in there. So,

1244
01:38:25,679 --> 01:38:31,440
you can transfer that money anytime you
want back to the general fund. So, we

1245
01:38:29,360 --> 01:38:36,480
transferred $900,000 back to the general
fund. In a sense, borrowed it for the

1246
01:38:34,320 --> 01:38:41,440
for the rest of this year, and then the
J the sheriff that making the 200,000 a

1247
01:38:39,199 --> 01:38:45,600
month is actually going to help fund it
next spring to pay that off. But you

1248
01:38:43,760 --> 01:38:49,119
don't want to get in that situation. You
don't want to come down to a situation

1249
01:38:46,960 --> 01:38:53,520
where you have a $2 million building and
you can't fund half of it. You see what

1250
01:38:51,040 --> 01:38:57,760
I'm saying? So, there's so many moving
pieces, you know, in in that budget. But

1251
01:38:56,400 --> 01:39:01,600
those are the types of things you get
the kind of the the department heads

1252
01:38:59,600 --> 01:39:05,840
done. You meet with the commission, you
put the budget together, and then you

1253
01:39:03,199 --> 01:39:09,440
start going like you were asking later,
why is it this way or why is it that

1254
01:39:07,840 --> 01:39:12,400
way? And then we just work through them.
And

1255
01:39:10,239 --> 01:39:17,440
» there are always issues. There's always
Yeah. Yeah.

1256
01:39:13,920 --> 01:39:21,679
» It's when I don't sleep for two months.
>> How do you mitigate your exposure? Not

1257
01:39:19,440 --> 01:39:26,960
putting together budget, not knowing
what you're really dealing with in

1258
01:39:23,360 --> 01:39:30,159
income or receipts in coming in tax
base.

1259
01:39:28,159 --> 01:39:34,719
» I mean, you got to have I wouldn't want
to be in two months without sleeping.

1260
01:39:32,800 --> 01:39:38,639
» I mean, you could explain it maybe
better from a legal standpoint, but you

1261
01:39:36,560 --> 01:39:42,800
know, I had this happen last year. So,
this guy stands up up at Brown County

1262
01:39:41,040 --> 01:39:46,400
where I was helping him and he says,
"I'm not going to pay my taxes." Okay?

1263
01:39:45,119 --> 01:39:49,760
I'm just not going to pay my taxes.
Well, there's things in place that

1264
01:39:47,760 --> 01:39:52,320
that's not going to happen because, you
know, you're you're going to go through

1265
01:39:50,719 --> 01:39:56,480
a sheriff sale. I mean, there you're
going to get it. So, he looked at me and

1266
01:39:54,320 --> 01:40:00,400
he said, I was explaining the law and
I'm not an attorney, I told him, but I'm

1267
01:39:58,080 --> 01:40:04,320
explaining the law. And he says, "Well,
why don't you just repossess my house?

1268
01:40:02,320 --> 01:40:08,080
You just take it, Mr. Lloyd." I go, "I
don't need a house in Brown County."

1269
01:40:06,480 --> 01:40:12,000
Okay.
And uh that's that's sometimes a comment

1270
01:40:10,560 --> 01:40:16,080
you get, you know, it's kind of kind of
smiley. And I explained to him and

1271
01:40:14,639 --> 01:40:21,119
people don't understand that. But see,
you have what is it three I think you

1272
01:40:18,719 --> 01:40:23,920
publish three times the delinquent tax
list. Okay. You've seen it probably in

1273
01:40:22,719 --> 01:40:27,920
the paper.
>> Is that right? I think it's three times.

1274
01:40:26,080 --> 01:40:33,360
» And and then you'll you know, so there's
a process in place for to mitigate like

1275
01:40:31,040 --> 01:40:38,159
you're saying whether you can get that
collection of taxes or not. Okay. You

1276
01:40:35,760 --> 01:40:42,400
should always get it. Now, I've had some
counties that have went, this is pretty

1277
01:40:39,840 --> 01:40:46,159
bad. I mean, I had one county probably
five years because they didn't have a

1278
01:40:43,760 --> 01:40:51,040
tax sale. So, see what happens is when
that property sets there and nobody's

1279
01:40:48,800 --> 01:40:54,239
paying their taxes and it's delinquent,
the quicker you can have that tax sale

1280
01:40:52,639 --> 01:40:58,159
to get that piece of property back on
the tax roll, the quicker you collect

1281
01:40:56,320 --> 01:41:00,480
that that money. And there may be other
parts of that.

1282
01:40:58,960 --> 01:41:04,239
» There so there's a statuto procedure
that we have to follow, but I can here's

1283
01:41:02,719 --> 01:41:08,000
what I can say without getting into the
weeds. We do a tax foreclosure

1284
01:41:06,239 --> 01:41:12,320
proceeding every year. Yep.
>> It takes significant county resources to

1285
01:41:10,480 --> 01:41:16,480
do it, but we're also able to capture
back significant amount of money.

1286
01:41:15,280 --> 01:41:19,840
» Yeah. And that would be one of the
biggest mitigations probably.

1287
01:41:18,000 --> 01:41:23,840
» The other thing you might want to talk
about like estimates on sales tax and

1288
01:41:22,239 --> 01:41:27,040
the amount of money that has come in.
That's good.

1289
01:41:25,360 --> 01:41:30,639
» So, if you were looking at the general
fund, the general fund is the one that

1290
01:41:28,719 --> 01:41:35,600
wants to be very healthy. Now, this is
just a Scott Lloyd rule. Uh my

1291
01:41:33,440 --> 01:41:39,280
grandparents grew up in the depression
and they always pressed on me the three

1292
01:41:37,360 --> 01:41:43,280
to six month rule of your cash reserves
at home. Okay, three to six months of

1293
01:41:41,440 --> 01:41:46,880
expenditures should be in your savings
account. Okay, so about 20 years ago I

1294
01:41:45,360 --> 01:41:51,920
started applying that to governments,
cities and counties. And that's why we

1295
01:41:49,920 --> 01:41:57,280
shoot for that because that county up
there that I took over, they had $6,925.

1296
01:41:55,199 --> 01:42:03,600
They had not been doing that. They had
not been watching their cash reserves.

1297
01:42:00,159 --> 01:42:07,360
And so what is very dangerous is in the
general fund you'll see there's there's

1298
01:42:05,440 --> 01:42:11,840
probably a list of receipts about this
long. One of those is sales tax. So

1299
01:42:10,560 --> 01:42:16,320
let's just say I'm just going to use
that as an example. Let's say in 25

1300
01:42:14,639 --> 01:42:22,719
which would been the first column the 27
budget we collected

1301
01:42:18,480 --> 01:42:27,360
um 2 million or 1 million 1,500,000.
That was the sales tax in Pra County

1302
01:42:24,800 --> 01:42:33,520
that they're shared. Okay. We don't want
to go in and say okay that's going to go

1303
01:42:29,040 --> 01:42:37,840
up. we'll go 1.7 million in 26 and 1.8
million in 27.

1304
01:42:36,239 --> 01:42:42,320
You don't want to do that. You want to
always stay under that. And we try to do

1305
01:42:39,679 --> 01:42:47,679
that with every line item because it's
like at home. If you say you're going to

1306
01:42:44,239 --> 01:42:54,000
make 50,000 as a household, but you only
bring home 40,000, but you built your

1307
01:42:50,239 --> 01:42:57,840
budget on 50,000, what happens? Probably
you're probably going to be out of cash.

1308
01:42:55,679 --> 01:43:05,119
You see what I'm saying? So, it's a lot
better to say $1.2 million on a $1.5

1309
01:43:02,400 --> 01:43:09,280
million sales tax. So, what happens is
is when that flows through, we're

1310
01:43:07,600 --> 01:43:14,239
probably going to end up with a little
more cash on hand than we anticipated,

1311
01:43:12,239 --> 01:43:18,719
but that's a good thing. I always say
cash is king. It's just like it is at

1312
01:43:16,480 --> 01:43:21,360
home. Okay. Uh but there's a lot of
things like there's

1313
01:43:19,760 --> 01:43:25,119
» And same with EMS receipt.
>> EMS receipts.

1314
01:43:22,560 --> 01:43:28,560
» There is a way to attempt to mitigate
exposure. It's not,

1315
01:43:26,719 --> 01:43:35,600
» you know, precise science, but
>> yeah. So, so hardly ever, I mean, it

1316
01:43:32,159 --> 01:43:40,480
does happen, but hardly ever do we
overestimate the receipt side on a

1317
01:43:38,000 --> 01:43:44,880
budget even outside the taxes like he's
talking with the MS because you don't

1318
01:43:42,880 --> 01:43:48,560
want you don't want to end up with, you
know, uh, spending it on money you're

1319
01:43:47,679 --> 01:43:52,560
not collecting.
>> Well, you know, good example was

1320
01:43:50,320 --> 01:43:56,239
already, you know, during co
>> Yeah.

1321
01:43:53,840 --> 01:44:00,560
them ambulances were running like crazy.
>> Yeah.

1322
01:43:57,440 --> 01:44:02,159
» And we plugged that number back in. It's
over. It's over.

1323
01:44:01,679 --> 01:44:05,520
» Yeah.
>> Yeah.

1324
01:44:02,800 --> 01:44:10,960
» So, we had to adjust.
>> Yeah. Yeah.

1325
01:44:08,000 --> 01:44:17,920
» Well, it's just like anything. There's
always more to it when you're involved

1326
01:44:14,400 --> 01:44:25,119
» than when you're looking from outside,
why don't they do this? And uh being in

1327
01:44:21,760 --> 01:44:28,480
the school system as long as I was and I
didn't I was not here.

1328
01:44:27,280 --> 01:44:36,880
» Yeah.
>> And um parents would come and well why

1329
01:44:33,760 --> 01:44:41,760
do you have this rule or why
>> why can't I do this and uh there's just

1330
01:44:40,880 --> 01:44:47,440
more to it.
>> Yeah. Absolutely.

1331
01:44:44,719 --> 01:44:51,600
» So I I appreciate hearing this.
>> Yeah.

1332
01:44:48,800 --> 01:44:59,440
It was a learning curve for me when I
went, this was just my second year and I

1333
01:44:55,760 --> 01:45:03,920
went to new commissioner meeting in
Topeka

1334
01:45:00,960 --> 01:45:09,840
about two weeks I think after I was
sworn in. I didn't realize there were

1335
01:45:06,480 --> 01:45:14,719
how many unfunded mandates the state
forced on the c on all counties, not

1336
01:45:12,000 --> 01:45:19,280
just Pratt, but all counties. I did not
realize that. that everybody the

1337
01:45:16,719 --> 01:45:22,880
counties had to fund stuff like that
with no money from the state but

1338
01:45:21,360 --> 01:45:28,080
demanded
>> it had to be done.

1339
01:45:25,280 --> 01:45:32,239
So it was a cult eyeopening experience
for me. I enjoy it but it's a learning

1340
01:45:31,119 --> 01:45:38,639
curve.
>> How much do you enjoy it?

1341
01:45:35,440 --> 01:45:47,677
» Well, I enjoy this. There's certain
parts that I never would

1342
01:45:43,440 --> 01:45:51,679
» but I enjoy it.
[laughter]

1343
01:45:49,199 --> 01:45:54,679
» Until you're involved, you don't
>> Yeah.

1344
01:45:55,600 --> 01:46:06,880
have appreciated hearing this and I
>> I feel very confident that

1345
01:46:02,719 --> 01:46:12,880
» you're telling me the truth and uh you
don't have some

1346
01:46:09,600 --> 01:46:18,400
unfunded idea
>> we know

1347
01:46:15,040 --> 01:46:19,679
» we will hear about it before you do it.
>> Yep.

1348
01:46:18,719 --> 01:46:22,560
» Guaranteed.
>> Guaranteed. Yes.

1349
01:46:21,440 --> 01:46:26,239
number one.
>> I'll let you finish up. Thank you.

1350
01:46:25,040 --> 01:46:29,280
» Great questions.
>> Thank you for coming. Come back anytime.

1351
01:46:28,800 --> 01:46:35,880
Yeah.
>> And I think I remember a long time ago

1352
01:46:31,760 --> 01:46:35,880
seeing Tyson play football.

1353
01:46:36,000 --> 01:46:40,960
» Was he any good?
>> We used to come to football games.

1354
01:46:40,080 --> 01:46:46,719
» Oh,
>> okay.

1355
01:46:42,239 --> 01:46:50,000
» So, we did see you play football.
>> And before you leave, I just wanted to

1356
01:46:48,080 --> 01:46:55,760
thank you. I believe we received a card
from you about elections. Was that you?

1357
01:46:52,960 --> 01:46:59,840
» Oh, that is incredibly kind. Thank you
so much for sending a card. Not very

1358
01:46:57,760 --> 01:47:02,320
many people go out. So, before you left,
I just wanted to extend my gratitude.

1359
01:47:01,920 --> 01:47:09,520
Thank you.
>> Okay. Well, thank you. I just um I went

1360
01:47:06,239 --> 01:47:15,280
I didn't mind going to the county uh to
the 4 center and they even had a

1361
01:47:12,239 --> 01:47:22,239
drive-thru that I don't have my didn't
have to take my little clients here.

1362
01:47:18,960 --> 01:47:28,639
» But I just thought it went so smoothly
and it just it just had I thought people

1363
01:47:26,480 --> 01:47:32,560
need to be thanked. Yeah.
>> Thank you. We we very much appreciate

1364
01:47:30,560 --> 01:47:37,360
it. It really
>> Sasha did an excellent job. Y

1365
01:47:35,360 --> 01:47:40,000
» now I'll still go back out there. I
don't I'm not going to put my ballot in

1366
01:47:39,360 --> 01:47:42,959
the mail.
>> Yep. So we have we have curbside for

1367
01:47:42,000 --> 01:47:48,719
you.
>> [laughter]

1368
01:47:43,440 --> 01:47:56,239
» But I I feel confident too that if we if
we do what the law says, we should be

1369
01:47:52,320 --> 01:48:04,400
fine. If we just don't have
someone doing unfunded mandate

1370
01:48:01,280 --> 01:48:13,119
to us, [laughter]
>> I hope that anyway, thank you very much.

1371
01:48:07,840 --> 01:48:17,840
This is good. I I probably will be back
because I I find it interesting.

1372
01:48:15,600 --> 01:48:20,639
» I really do.
>> Thank you.

1373
01:48:18,719 --> 01:48:26,639
» Thank you.
Anybody have anything else?

1374
01:48:23,760 --> 01:48:29,360
» I hear a motion to close a budget
hearing.

1375
01:48:27,600 --> 01:48:31,840
» I'll make that motion.
>> Second.

1376
01:48:29,920 --> 01:48:37,119
» Been moved and seconded to close the
2027 budget hearing. All in favor say I.

1377
01:48:35,119 --> 01:48:43,440
» I.
>> Same sign. Motion carried. We budget

1378
01:48:40,880 --> 01:48:47,440
here is closed.
>> I grab you for sure.