[3:58] like to call the RNR meeting to order
and we'll do the flag salute.
[4:08] appointed to the flag of United States
of America and to the republic for which
[4:14] it stands. One nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice
[4:20] for all.
[4:24] » Do you need to say something?
>> Nope.
[4:26] » Okay.
>> That's what I thought.
[4:30] » Like to welcome everybody to a revenue
neutral rate hearing. The purpose of
[4:37] this hearing is to listen to listen and
answer to objections from tax relating
[4:43] to the revenue neutral rate and the
proposed tax rate as required by candid
[4:48] statute 79-2988.
[4:52] This hearing will now be open for
comments and each person will have three
[4:56] minutes to voice their concerns.
So
[5:02] Eddie Kyle, be honest with you. I've
looked through your budget.
[5:07] I don't have any major concerns at a
high level. You guys are very, very
[5:12] conservative.
I think you're doing a good job.
[5:16] As a taxpayer, to me, there's really no
reason to complain about taxes at a
[5:21] county level, but I pay a lot of taxes
and I look at all the different boards
[5:26] that have taxing capabilities and
impact. So, you as a board, what do you
[5:31] suggest I do?
I can complain to you, but to me there's
[5:36] those values there.
So, who do I voice my concerns to
[5:44] » the state?
The jo uh where do we get some banging
[5:50] of our buck here?
>> I think we got to start with the state,
[5:53] » okay?
>> Because they're the ones we all know
[5:56] property taxes are too high,
>> right?
[6:00] But we've got they put on the counties
18 different
[6:04] » mandates
>> mandated deals that the counties have to
[6:09] fund with no money from the state
>> and they keep giving exemptions tax
[6:14] exemptions all the time to different
corporations and different entities.
[6:19] » These tax exemptions can you expand on
that
[6:22] » like public utilities
that type of entities?
[6:29] basically anything if they get it
through
[6:33] » counties deal.
>> Yeah. Data centers.
[6:36] » Data centers.
>> That type of stuff.
[6:38] » I think they did away with watercraft
and all that last year, didn't they?
[6:42] » I mean, that's a huge And every time
they do that, you've got to fill the
[6:46] gap.
>> Yes. It goes back on real estate or, you
[6:48] know,
>> real estate.
[6:50] » So, does Pratt County have a lot of tax
exemptions for industry?
[6:54] » No.
>> State mandated?
[6:57] » Yeah. I mean, it's all mandated through
the state. We can't
[7:01] » we can't change that.
>> So, but then you got the different
[7:04] boards. I mean, I've looked at your
fluff sheet and none of those items line
[7:09] items to me I would touch. Humane
society, the hospital. I mean, some of
[7:14] that stuff is a
>> it's a must.
[7:16] » Yeah, it's a must.
>> And I think if you cut it, you'd have
[7:19] more push back than people like me
complaining about taxes. So,
[7:23] » they're all good entities.
>> Yes.
[7:26] » Yeah. So, I guess I'm not one to say
what you're doing is wrong, but we are
[7:32] overt taxed. In inflation is coming up.
The tax burden is falling back to the
[7:37] elderly because of the baby boomers were
aging out.
[7:42] » So, you've got a jo that has a board
that can tax it
[7:48] with no checks and balances. You got a
board for a hospital that people like me
[7:53] look at. You need the hospital,
but is it
[7:58] sustainable at its current situation? I
don't know.
[8:02] » And that's why we got beer in it.
>> Okay. So, as a taxpayer,
[8:09] you've got board members that have
sustained that situation the last couple
[8:14] years. The taxpayers come into that.
What do we have to say that we can come
[8:19] back and say maybe we want a different
leadership board
[8:24] instead of leaving that one in place to
manage it going forward.
[8:28] » I agree with you 100% on that. Uh
taxpayer money has to be used. I think
[8:36] we need to restructure how that's
governed.
[8:39] » Most definitely.
>> Uh right now they're a private entity.
[8:42] They don't have to give financials. They
don't have to
[8:46] do any of that. Correct.
>> I mean I mean
[8:49] » there are some reporting requirements in
the lease
[8:51] » for us,
>> right?
[8:53] » But I mean as far as the public
uh but if taxpayer money is going to be
[8:58] used, it'll be a whole different.
>> Yeah. Thank you. The only suggestion I
[9:04] have and it may be one you guys looked
at and it may not be feasible but
[9:10] insurance. Your insurance rates have
went through the roof,
[9:13] » right? So, I assume that's health
insurance.
[9:16] » Yes,
[9:20] » I already did, too. But we made some
changes this year and it's actually
[9:24] cheaper, but we had to pull this
building out
[9:28] » and then pay down to
>> with a higher a much higher deductible.
[9:32] » Yeah. Like a $200,000 deductible. You
know, I mean, needing a roof, so we'll
[9:37] probably just going to end up paying for
it. You know what I'm saying?
[9:39] » Yes. Again, you guys I I think you're
very good at managing your and you're
[9:46] very conservative with managing your
the only thing I again [clears throat]
[9:52] who else do I complain to state exam so
on so forth jo which to me I don't know
[10:00] they were at what 40ome mills they think
they dropped to 38 you guys have got 65
[10:08] so I mean that's a substantial amount of
money.
[10:11] » Yeah.
>> The only thing health insurance I'm
[10:14] going to go back to it selfinsure. Pratt
County as a whole could not sustain that
[10:20] risk.
>> But have you guys thought about co-oping
[10:24] with counties around you and maybe
looking at selfinsure
[10:28] » and and you may have already done it.
>> Yeah, some of them are with the K
[10:35] deal and we were with them for a very
short time. It's not.
[10:42] It might have been cheaper, but our
clerk's office was handling all the
[10:46] claims and doing all the labor, and it
just wasn't something that we could
[10:50] sustain
in her office just because it's just
[10:54] more work. Uh,
you know, our health insurance, we've
[11:00] had years where we've overused.
>> Several years.
[11:04] » Several years. In fact, this last year
we overused again.
[11:08] » Yeah.
>> Uh you know, and so we go out to bid
[11:12] and people look at that and nobody bids
on us at Blue Cross.
[11:19] So it's one of those things, you know,
you can't control what happens to
[11:24] people.
>> Well, I I know what it does with my
[11:26] health insurance. I know what I'm
looking to increase at a personal level.
[11:29] So I can imagine the county level with
the headcount that you have and exposure
[11:34] » different diseases that may occur. I
mean Yeah.
[11:36] » And you know then to make that work
>> just on top of that, you know, we've
[11:41] eliminated a position in the treasur's
office. We've eliminated a position in
[11:45] the clerk's office. We've eliminated a
couple of positions on the road. And we
[11:50] still have people working for $167 an
hour here. And we need to get those up
[11:56] because we can't get people hired. Yeah,
because they want to start at 20 and I
[12:01] don't blame them.
>> Uh that's a real concern of mine that
[12:06] we're not, you know, get people hired.
Yeah, I could raise taxes a bunch and
[12:12] get everybody's wages up, but I we're
trying not to do that. We're trying to I
[12:17] don't know what we're trying to do.
We're trying to fix it, but we
[12:21] » But uh
you know, for people to say, "Well, you
[12:24] need to make cuts." We we've made cuts.
the fact we're spending $50,000 worth of
[12:29] cash
to our employee benefit fund.
[12:34] So, that's not a good way to budget
either.
[12:38] » But again,
>> to keep taxes down, we're doing what we
[12:41] can. Plus, we're still trying to build
up our cash reserves, which we're
[12:45] spending them.
>> But the perception is people pay money
[12:49] to Pratt County.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
[12:51] » They don't understand all the other
entities that flow into that. Yeah.
[12:55] » Yeah.
And I think it would be beneficial as a
[12:59] commission maybe explain that to the
different taxpayers. You guys understand
[13:04] it 100%.
>> Us laying out here looking at your tax
[13:08] burden. We don't understand all that.
>> It's a bill comes from the pract.
[13:15] » It kind of goes back full circle to your
first question though. You asked, you
[13:18] know, who who do I bring my concerns to?
>> Exactly.
[13:22] » And it really is a state level concern.
I mean, if you talk to DJ, their
[13:25] appraiser, over the course of his
career,
[13:29] I mean, there was we went we started
with getting rid of personal property
[13:33] exemptions. We're getting we've moved
over over 30 years. Pretty much
[13:37] everything got exempted in personal
property. There's very little that gets
[13:41] taxed personal property wise now
compared to when he started. We have
[13:45] massive real property exemptions for
wind, solar, data centers, any type of
[13:51] renewable. All of those are state level,
you know, and there's nothing
[13:55] » and they tell us we can't tax it. So,
>> you know, there's nothing that my guys
[13:59] can do other than what you can do, which
is voice their concerns to your
[14:04] legislators.
>> So, the solar farm, the wind farm,
[14:08] they're tax exempt at a state level.
Yep.
[14:10] » State level. And
>> across the state, even local level can't
[14:13] tax.
>> New new projects are 10-year exemptions.
[14:17] Renewable new projects. The original
wind farms are lifetime exemptions. So
[14:22] that statute was changed. I don't know
what year it changed, but originally
[14:26] there were lifetime exemptions. It went
to a 10-year exemption. But if you fell,
[14:30] if you
you applied and completed your project
[14:34] before the statute changed, you maintain
your lifetime exemption. Absent there
[14:39] not being a repower that fundamentally
changes the project. Again, it's
[14:43] something that [clears throat] we have
no control over. Again, I I agree 100%
[14:48] what you're saying. So, there's very
little benefit for me to complain to you
[14:54] at your level.
>> Yeah. Unless you see something that
[14:57] we're just absolutely not doing our job.
>> I didn't get down in the weeds of your
[15:02] day-to-day expenses. Okay. I don't I
didn't look at your capital
[15:05] improvements.
[15:08] » The health was a big one. Can't touch
that. I can't touch that.
[15:14] No, there's really
>> there's nothing in there to cut.
[15:16] » Yeah.
>> Without without
[15:18] » impacting people. Yeah.
>> Humane Society. $15,000 a year. Really?
[15:23] That's all they get? You know, and
that's senior citizen 221,000 a year.
[15:29] » That's not a lot of money.
>> No.
[15:31] » No.
>> And you know, give our department heads
[15:35] a big pat on the back paying $5 diesel.
>> Yes. Yeah. I saw that right. and and you
[15:42] know the when they come in and talk to
us, we talk about the fuel prices and so
[15:47] they're having to adjust their budgets
on the fly and so far they're doing
[15:52] pretty darn good. I you know I mean when
you get a you know road diesel bill for
[15:58] 76 $80,000 a month.
>> Yes. That
[16:01] » you know that eats up your budget pretty
fast.
[16:05] » Well I I think from my perspective you
guys a pretty good job. appreciate that
[16:11] » and I think it would be benefit you
greatly if you kind of help explain some
[16:17] of that other taxing entities that this
is not all well this money is not going
[16:20] to pra county
>> even that your tax money you're spending
[16:24] doesn't cover
>> what 60% of your overall budget
[16:28] » yeah like 12 million 13 million I think
is what we're collecting
[16:32] » y so you didn't raise you're looking at
raising your neutral rate based upon the
[16:37] value of the property so therefore your
mill is going to stay the same.
[16:40] » Yeah. I mean,
the last two years, Northern Natural,
[16:46] and I don't know how to explain.
>> Yeah, I live out there.
[16:49] » But apparently, they moved $28 million
worth of equipment
[16:53] » out of the county.
>> Out of the county. So, if you go back
[16:56] and look at our mill levy,
it just it sinks because we lost $28
[17:02] million in two years. Well, this year
they brought some of it back. What 13
[17:07] million, something like that. So, we're
trying to recapture that.
[17:13] » Okay.
>> Do you understand that? I mean,
[17:15] » I think the kicker on that too is uh I'm
an auditor also by trade, not just bud
[17:22] help with budget. And at the state
level, it's called PVD, property
[17:28] valuation department. And that's where
the state assess runs through. And just
[17:32] like this example here with u correct me
if I'm wrong here u but u this is what's
[17:39] really interesting about craft county
just exactly what he said where northern
[17:43] has really doesn't have to have any
accountability to the state in a sense
[17:49] the way that they
>> yeah nobody checks on what they they
[17:53] self file
>> except they do they did work hard to um
[17:58] get that changed and now there is a cap
on that if it changes If it increases or
[18:02] decreases by 5% 3%
>> um then that triggers an audit of that
[18:08] and that just got changed this year um
through a lot of hard work
[18:12] » they self audit self value
move it from one location to another
[18:17] thus that impacts the local tax base
>> and we don't know that until pretty much
[18:22] » the middle of the budget.
>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean we're we're in they
[18:26] don't come out with that till like June
1st.
[18:28] » June Yeah. June 1st is stay.
>> We've got to have our budget done in a
[18:31] couple weeks later.
>> I'm in Cunningham school district. So I
[18:35] I I
>> got a school districts as a whole. I
[18:41] have
>> I think Cunningham has done a very good
[18:44] job of managing their money in this
school level.
[18:47] » So and and the value of your home. And
this is what I tell people. I know. I
[18:52] know. I'm just going to give you a real
life example. I'm just going to use you.
[18:58] I don't know what you're holding worth,
but say the county says it's worth
[19:01] 300,000.
You don't think it's worth that. It's
[19:05] only 200,000.
You go to sell and a realer tells you,
[19:10] "Hey, I think I can get 300,000 out of
this home." You're going to take that,
[19:14] right?
>> Oh, yeah. Every time.
[19:15] » So, she puts it on the market or he
by the end of the day, somebody's
[19:20] offered you 320,000.
>> You're going to take that.
[19:24] » Oh, every time. And that that is what
the data
[19:26] » and and that tells the whole market
>> people got money and all the home values
[19:31] go up.
>> It's not a lot of people think that we
[19:35] sit in here and we figure our budget and
say, "Oh, we need this much money. Go
[19:38] raise their taxes up that much." That's
not how that works.
[19:42] » I've had a conversation with you.
>> An appraiser has to have their value
[19:47] appraised value within a certain percent
above the selling price and below the
[19:52] selling price. That's statemandated
also.
[19:54] » And they
>> and they come down and audit us every
[19:57] year to make sure we're within a certain
percentage of what we're doing.
[20:02] » I wouldn't want your job and I would
want his job. How about that for
[20:06] » I think our job's easier than his.
>> Yes. So yeah, that does make sense. I
[20:11] understand.
>> I'll just tell you one more thing. I
[20:13] think you know when you put dollars with
it you kind of so let's just use uh I
[20:18] think in the in two years I know it was
12 or 14 million and 7 million drop in
[20:24] assessed value. So let's just use 21
million in two years. So if you move the
[20:30] decimal point three to the left that's
$21,000
[20:35] per mill that we lost. So when you
multiply that times I think at that time
[20:41] it was about 59 58 58 or 59. You
multiply that times 21,000 that's a
[20:48] chunk of change. And we had to figure
out how we were going to make that work.
[20:52] And the other thing is I I kind of kidly
say this but you know the state pushes
[20:57] down on you RNR RNR R&R you know all
this. Oh I like I've I've asked them a
[21:03] couple times. Why don't you go under
RNR? you know, you you manage your
[21:08] income and all that the same way that
we're trying to ask because they think
[21:12] out here we're just I do six counties
and and a lot of cities and they just
[21:17] think we're just spending money
willy-nilly, you know? I mean, just just
[21:20] we're just spending it and that's not
true. I mean,
[21:23] » I'm not looking at your budget. It's not
true.
[21:25] » No, [clears throat] it's not true.
>> They think we're building pools and
[21:29] » but the perception is
building a pavilion out there. you know,
[21:34] the city of Pratt want to tax it
increased to offset the city
[21:41] personal property tax, but as people in
the county would pay that.
[21:45] » And we see no benefit from
>> so again, I don't know if there's any
[21:50] benefit in in joining with other
counties around you to try to leverage
[21:54] some of that buy and
>> schools did that when I was on the
[21:58] school board any value.
>> We pulled our our health insurance
[22:03] because that way it gave us a little bit
more leverage with Blue Cross if they
[22:09] tried to raise it. You know, if you get
six schools pull out,
[22:13] » that's a big chunk of change for them.
It gets their attention
[22:16] » real fast.
>> I mean, the other obvious problem is the
[22:20] usage. County's usage is not attractive
to any other
[22:24] » Yeah. No other county would say look at
ours,
[22:28] man. I don't want
>> because of the
[22:30] » but [clears throat] that's aging
workforce a lot of factors you know
[22:35] » that's true but I mean I don't know
maybe fuel asphalt is is there anything
[22:42] that you co-op with that you can
leverage some of your mind
[22:48] I don't know I that's just
>> yeah and I don't know you know I'm just
[22:54] going to use asphalt you know we use one
company I think there's only like one
[22:59] company that does that.
>> Yeah.
[23:01] » Two. That's it. But yeah, it's one
>> all the
[23:05] kind the same with the insurance more so
this insurance at the city level.
[23:09] There's only one that literally insures
this is property insurance basically all
[23:13] the cities across the state of Kansas.
>> Yeah. EMC and you know
[23:19] » it's just there's just a lot of things
like that.
[23:24] » Well, again don't
>> you got any more ideas?
[23:27] » [laughter]
[23:29] » We'll take them all.
>> Yes.
[23:31] » No, I just was kind of looking at it
your supply chain being able to leverage
[23:36] your buying power
whether it's in health insurance or
[23:40] asphalt or fuel.
>> That's something we can look into.
[23:43] » But it's, you know,
>> so the public's aware too. I mean, so we
[23:46] start talking about budget
early May. like we have budget study
[23:50] sessions which are open to the public
and these types of conversations
[23:54] actually do happen in there to try to
figure out hey how can we we can stay
[23:59] where we're at or be close to where
we're at. I mean the the difference the
[24:03] way I look at the difference and Sasha
did a good job putting this together
[24:06] between R and R and where we're at
$360,000
[24:11] more in Blue Cross Blue Shields premium
approximately 160,000 more in fuel cost.
[24:18] Uh the cola is an extra 200,000 roughly.
That explains the difference right
[24:24] there. Just that
>> just that I mean we haven't done
[24:27] anything extravagant. We haven't
Yeah. Yeah. Our air conditioning bill in
[24:34] his courthouse might throw us over, but
yeah.
[24:37] » Well, I do want to thank Sasha for
putting this off for me. Kind of walk me
[24:41] through it. I haven't seen I haven't
looked at your capital improvement
[24:44] stuff.
>> We do have we do have a plan. If you if
[24:48] you want to
>> tell them we had a nice binder down,
[24:51] » take a look at it. But uh I just again
the only thing I suggest is
[24:59] how you guys help me explain to your
layman that this is not all Pratt County
[25:04] taxes that when I write that check it
doesn't all go to county
[25:10] » and there's a lot of boards that have
taxing capabilities
[25:15] that to me there's
>> KSA has a you know a statute for it but
[25:19] there's no checks and balances like it
is with the elected officials.
[25:23] Gotcha.
>> Because all the school boards, [snorts]
[25:27] cities, township,
>> townships, cemetery boards, all that
[25:32] » comes out of the by county.
>> Yes.
[25:36] » Yeah.
>> What it is
[25:39] » and the state used to give us
money. It's called the local valorum
[25:45] whatever
>> briefly. Yeah, labr took it away because
[25:49] he broke the state
>> and then they bought us and finally
[25:54] passed a law what two years ago
>> and did away with the whole thing.
[26:00] So, and and the reason they were giving
us money is they won't allow us to tax
[26:04] fuel and certain stuff just they get
[26:10] » Well, that's really all I had. Thank you
guys for your service. Appreciate you
[26:15] coming in. Yeah, we appreciate it.
>> One thing you ask and I think this is so
[26:19] hard. I've done this for 44. This is my
44th year
[26:22] » and I love to explain the budget. We we
talk about in these meetings.
[26:27] » Scott has to go up to the state and
>> which I did tell him too that you were a
[26:31] great
>> Okay. You're the individual.
[26:33] » This is Scott. He's our
>> and I love I love to do that. But what's
[26:38] really interesting is we did this at
Marian County. We had the we about
[26:44] probably about seven years ago uh we
went it's kind of when RNR first came in
[26:48] and so we said let's let's just all have
a meeting evening meeting I think we set
[26:52] it at 7:00 and let's all understand the
city budget and the county budget okay
[26:57] at Marriott
I think there may have been 10 people
[27:02] there I don't even know if there were 10
people there and nobody won I mean I
[27:07] just till RNR came I I I've done these
budget hearings Like today there's a few
[27:12] here, you know, but usually there's one
maybe nobody that you know shows up.
[27:17] » There were I was at Stafford County last
week for something else for there, but
[27:22] they had nobody.
>> Nobody shows up. Yeah. Most we've ever
[27:25] had since I've been here is five. And
you can see we you know we zoom it. I'm
[27:29] sure people watch the Zoom. Yeah.
>> We only have four online plus you guys.
[27:33] And this is every I mean we encourage
>> every time they get questions on the
[27:38] budget I encourage people to not only
come to this but to come to our study
[27:42] session.
>> Absolutely.
[27:44] » Watch. Yeah.
>> Yeah.
[27:46] » There's never any in the school either.
>> It's easier to be playing when you don't
[27:50] have anybody to
>> so
[27:53] » but again it's very intimidating at
times to come before the board. You guys
[27:58] do this every day. Yeah.
>> Rest of us don't. Right. So, I
[28:02] understand why it would be somewhat
intimidating to come and voice your
[28:06] concerns, reverse complaints.
>> It is. But, you know, we look at this
[28:12] as, you know, we work for you guys and
and we need to hear from
[28:16] » Yeah.
>> You know, people stop me in on the
[28:18] street. That's one thing.
>> Yes.
[28:20] » You know, I can talk to them there. But,
uh,
[28:23] » yeah, they come in or send an email or
there's a thousand ways to communicate
[28:27] in today's world. Yes.
>> And we do welcome that.
[28:29] » Yeah.
I think
[28:32] » I tell people come to meetings every
week.
[28:34] » Yeah, absolutely.
>> Or watch it and then if you got
[28:37] questions, email me,
>> call me up.
[28:40] » Back to back to something they said
earlier. This is this is across all but
[28:44] I don't know in Pratt you can you drive
golf carts in town in
[28:49] » US
recently with
[28:52] » so those got you know all the personal
property got exempted and I don't think
[28:57] people really think about that but that
really adds up quickly. So, I had this
[29:00] one, I don't do the county, but it's
Wilson Lake. Uh I don't know if I told
[29:04] that story here, but uh when the when
the uh watercraft got exempted here a
[29:10] couple years ago, uh the guy went out
and built a $150,000
[29:16] uh housebo and that became his residence
on the dock at at Wilson Lake and that
[29:22] got totally exempted.
And see, there's things like that that
[29:26] happen that, you know, people's gonna
whatever the law is, [laughter] they're
[29:31] just going to try to figure out ways to,
you know, get around it. So we just do
[29:34] the best we can here I think to uh you
know be fair you know and try to do it
[29:39] in a way because I think the hardest
thing is to be fair to the employees you
[29:44] know and if you put yourself in their
shoes um I think the first year I was
[29:50] down here I don't want to get too far in
the weeds here but uh I went home told
[29:53] my wife um uh I went by McDonald's this
is right right after co I think I
[29:59] started what what year 23 22 budget 21
budget. So I went by there and they were
[30:05] advertising $15 to work in McDonald's,
you know, in the back. And we had just
[30:10] had a conversation because we were
trying to get the ambulance department
[30:13] back. It was kind of underwater.
>> And the starting salary was $13.89.
[30:20] And I told this is I'm not this is just
this is reality. This is everywhere.
[30:24] This is not just in Pratt. I said, "You
want to someone $15 in the back back or
[30:30] the dish washing dishes at McDonald's
save you on the side of the road or do
[30:34] you want somebody at $1389?" I mean,
that's Yeah.
[30:38] » And that's sad, you know, cuz that
that's
[30:40] » Yeah. So, I I could tell stories like
that. I mean, it's just it's just
[30:44] amazing
>> trying to trying to balance, you know,
[30:46] the the taxpayer with trying to keep
good like you were saying earlier, good
[30:50] works work
>> and be able to hire, which is the road
[30:53] department. It's a problem right now.
Yeah. I mean, we're down
[30:57] » I don't even know now. 11 12
>> under department is that?
[31:01] » Yeah.
>> Last time it was nine. So, you're
[31:03] » I mean, you know, they can go drive a
truck for a company and make a lot more
[31:06] money than they're making.
>> Yeah.
[31:07] » Now, years ago, the benefits here kind
of made up for that, but the benefits
[31:13] don't buy you food.
>> No.
[31:15] » Right.
>> That's correct.
[31:17] » So, it's going to come to a head before
too long.
[31:22] » And that's where you're all at. where
we're all going to be all going to come
[31:26] » a reckoning for budget versus expense
versus
[31:31] » you know you got a lot of people in this
community on fixed incomes and seeing
[31:36] » the
>> and we talk about that in our budget
[31:38] deal.
>> Yeah.
[31:39] » You know how how do we keep this down
because you know social security isn't
[31:44] increasing
>> reception is a lot of it. Yeah. and
[31:47] building a pavilion out east at the
force complex for very few individuals
[31:53] compared to the old county
>> is not a good look
[31:57] but you know it's I don't think it's
taxf funded by the county level but
[32:01] people on a fixed income look at that
going
[32:04] » all my taxes are going up and we're
doing this out here my taxes are going
[32:09] up we got exposure at that hospital we
need that hospital
[32:13] » yes we do we have some people that
>> don't want us to spend spend a dime on
[32:18] it and we've got some people that do.
>> You call it
[32:23] situation.
>> Yeah,
[32:25] » we have to have healthc care in this
county.
[32:27] » Yes, you do.
>> We can't just close the ER for two
[32:31] months or whatever. Find somebody else.
>> I think your entities surrounding the
[32:36] county look at a lot of
not so much their core values but
[32:42] add-ons, fluff if you will. And I think
the reckoning is going to come to where
[32:46] your core values are going to come back
to where they need to be
[32:49] » instead of
playing football for girls at the juke.
[32:54] I don't know what that expense per year
is, but that's
[32:58] » high school now.
>> Yeah. Again, I'm not I'm not picking on,
[33:02] you know, title n
>> I know,
[33:04] » but it's it's another race over there.
>> Yeah, exactly. So, as a taxpayer, those
[33:11] are some of the things I look at. Is
that what bang on my buck can I get?
[33:17] » Yeah, we've had people in here
complaining we need to buy more rock.
[33:21] Rock trip crippled. I'm one of those
individuals.
[33:25] » We understand.
>> We'd love to buy more rock.
[33:29] » We We really would, but
>> And there was a time we could have
[33:33] bought it, but they were out.
>> Well, it broke down. Yeah,
[33:37] » because we get it from Sun City down
there and they're broke down most of the
[33:41] time. But, uh, you know, if we go over
to Eastern Kansas, get that rock and
[33:45] haul it back, the expense really gets
more than 3x.
[33:49] » Yeah.
>> Yeah. And
[33:51] » and to me, that's a capital improvement
project. Yeah. That's not a maintenance
[33:54] project. It's a capital.
>> Well, even our sand pit, we're going to
[33:56] run out of sand and we need to start
looking for another sand pit.
[34:00] » Yeah.
>> So, that's going to be that's in our
[34:02] capital improvement plan.
So, we've got to save money for that.
[34:08] The HVAC system in this building is
basically shot.
[34:13] » A rough shot
again.
[34:16] » Well, look at the mold on our
[laughter]
[34:22] » I fear for mark safety some days.
[34:26] » Yeah, there
you guys do a lot.
[34:31] Not a full budget. How about that?
>> Yes. And we're trying because we pay the
[34:39] same taxes as everybody else does, too.
>> Yeah.
[34:44] » Thank you.
>> Appreciate you coming.
[34:45] » Thank you.
>> Yeah.
[34:47] » Gary, you have anything?
>> I just came to listen and gather
[34:51] information.
>> Still appreciate that.
[34:53] » Yes. Yep.
Ma'am, you got any questions?
[35:00] » I have too many to even bring up.
[laughter]
[35:05] » Fire away. far away. And I, you know,
this first county commission meeting
[35:08] I've been to,
>> okay?
[35:09] » And the reason I'm here is because,
believe it or not, my hairdresser was
[35:15] the one that was pushing it. It gave me
a little flyer about the meetings,
[35:19] » okay,
>> for this. And of course, the flyer just
[35:23] told the date and the time, so I didn't
have a whole lot of information. The
[35:29] thing that I'm concerned about is the
situation the hospital is in. And I know
[35:34] the hospital's counting. You know, as a
now future or frequent blind person, I'm
[35:42] now concerned about the fact that we
don't have ways to cross Main Street. Uh
[35:47] but that's not you. You're talking about
the sports complex. Well, I coached for
[35:54] 40 years. I'm 100% in favor of that.
It's magnificent, you know, but I
[35:59] thought other entities contributed like
the school districts and the college.
[36:04] » Gotcha.
>> You know, so I'm just kind of here and
[36:08] listening. The one thing and I the one
thing I'd say that I wish could happen
[36:15] is to have a meeting in the evenings
instead of nine o'clock in the morning.
[36:20] Now, I'm a morning person, all right?
But we used to run a business here in
[36:26] Pratt. There's no way my husband could
make a 9:00 meeting.
[36:30] » Gotcha.
>> The reason,
[36:31] » you know, so if maybe every other week
or something you met in the evening or
[36:37] something so people who are working
could come
[36:41] » understand. Our normal meeting time is 2
o'clock in the afternoons.
[36:45] » That's worse.
>> Yeah. Gotcha.
[36:47] » Yeah. And the reason we have it too
because if we don't then we got to pay
[36:52] overtime to all the department heads
that come in and
[36:56] » really
>> Oh yeah. We can't just expect them to
[36:58] come in and not get paid.
>> Aren't they under your employment?
[37:02] » Do what?
>> Aren't they under your employment?
[37:06] » Yes.
>> Most of them get paid hourly. Not a
[37:08] salary.
>> That's why they're hourly.
[37:11] » I mean as a school district
I went to a hell of a lot of meetings.
[37:15] » Yeah, I know you did. And they just
said, "You will show up at this time."
[37:20] » Yeah. Well,
>> whether it was convenient or not,
[37:22] » the IRS might look at us a little
different than they do school districts.
[37:26] I guess
>> I can't say when I came on, we were
[37:29] doing meetings at 4:00, which is still
not past five, but the uh we didn't have
[37:35] any more people show up.
>> Still didn't.
[37:37] » Yeah. Which is, you know, I
>> And you can watch them on Zoom
[37:41] » and we encourage
>> And then if you have questions, you can
[37:43] email.
>> I have no idea how to watch it. I mean,
[37:46] I see the big screen. I can see there's
a screen up there. Can't see the people,
[37:51] but is it How do you get to it?
>> There's
[37:58] Mark, you want to explain?
>> There's a link on crackount.org on the
[38:02] commission button. There is a link there
that has a link. You just click it and
[38:08] it'll go to the latest YouTube video or
you can go to all of You can look at the
[38:14] path one.
>> Okay.org
[38:18] » and
>> commission
[38:20] » commission. And then there's some
choices under there. If you go to the
[38:24] agendas, you can you can look at past
videos.
[38:27] » Be nice.
>> Yep.
[38:29] » It's all
>> agendas, minutes, and the
[38:32] » agendas and videos.
>> There's several years worth on there.
[38:36] » Yeah.
>> Pretty much since
[38:39] » and it's searchable, too. So, if you
have a topic that you're wondering about
[38:42] when it was talked last, you know, you
can you can search like budget and it
[38:47] would bring up every time budget was in
the agenda or the minutes.
[38:50] » Okay.
I appreciate, you know, I just decided I
[38:55] had to come.
>> Oh, god.
[38:57] » Glad you did. Yeah.
>> Because tax and you mentioned people who
[39:01] are on a stationary budget, you know,
you get this much from the IRA or from
[39:06] the social security and a little bit of
retirement. we have and every time
[39:12] things go up, it puts cake in things.
>> It's rough.
[39:17] » Yeah, we we we talk about that a lot
when we do our budget workshops
[39:23] » and
[39:26] you know, our department heads come in
and sometimes they shoot for the moon
[39:30] and see what they get and sometimes they
say, you know,
[39:35] and and you can't blame them. I mean,
they're running under department and so
[39:39] then we got to balance,
you know, what's really worth it and
[39:43] what's not,
>> right?
[39:46] » I mean, our school board does the same
thing. It's just what everybody does,
[39:50] you know, and it's hard.
>> Even on the personal level, it's
[39:53] everybody [snorts] does the same thing.
>> Exactly.
[39:56] » Yeah. Yeah. There's an inflation thing,
but between insurance and
[40:02] » I may start putting beef in my backyard.
Yeah, the insurance
[40:09] » may not even be able to
afford to keep it. It won't be worth it
[40:15] for too long.
>> And yet they're raking in billions of
[40:19] dollars a years.
And they're using AI now to
[40:25] deny.
[40:32] » So that's all I have. Thank you. Thank
you.
[40:34] » Thank you.
[40:38] » Anybody?
[40:41] Nobody's online is there?
[40:47] » Do you guys have any
more discussions on revenue neutral
[40:54] rate?
>> I don't
[40:56] » just say
we're trying our darnest to keep taxes
[41:01] down. Absolutely.
>> It's
[41:05] it's tough for people. We know it's
tough for people and yet we have to
[41:09] provide a service of some kind
and
[41:18] you know it just well even the juvenile
deal.
[41:22] » Yeah.
>> I didn't even bring that up. So, state
[41:25] legislature decided that
they're going to take away the judge's
[41:30] discretion on whether they can lock up
juveniles or not. So, now juveniles are
[41:37] going to be locked up. Instead of
bringing them home and sending them home
[41:41] with grandma or something like that,
they're going to be locked up. Guess who
[41:45] pays for that?
>> The county.
[41:47] » The county does.
So, uh,
[41:53] you know, that's just another mandate
from the state
[41:58] down to us that we're going to pay for a
law that they put out.
[42:06] » We got a budget of $2.3 million for the
sheriff's project.
[42:13] » And we're already just in the six months
that started couple of months. I think
[42:18] he's already over on juvenile line items
>> by a lot.
[42:21] » Yeah, by quite a bit because it's $250 a
night or something like that.
[42:26] » Keep a juvenile
[42:34] » and there's nothing we can do about
>> there will be conversations at the state
[42:38] level and whether the state gets
anything done. I'm talking not just
[42:43] juvenile talking about taxes in general.
It's unclear to me and what it looks
[42:48] like unclear to me.
>> But for there to be fundamental change,
[42:52] it's going to have to come at the top
side of
[42:54] » Yeah. Yeah. Either how we figure the
taxes or what they tax or that all comes
[43:01] from the state level.
[43:09] And I know there's a big push across the
state to abolish property taxes.
[43:14] Well, that's great. What's going to make
up the difference?
[43:18] » You just pulled it from one pot and
moved it to another.
[43:20] » Yeah,
>> that's all you're doing.
[43:22] » Yeah.
>> The budget's not change. You just shift
[43:24] it.
>> Can you imagine paying real high sales
[43:26] tax on $5 diesel?
>> Yeah.
[43:34] » Or sales high dollar sales tax on
anything.
[43:37] » Yeah.
>> Yeah. Would be. It's going to have to go
[43:40] bill just went to 400 a week.
>> Yeah.
[43:44] It's not.
And I'm not saying I got any answers to
[43:48] it. I mean, they've got a job to do up
there. They need to do it,
[43:53] but I don't have any answers.
[44:00] Well, this is a good time to ask
questions of people that are look trying
[44:03] to get elected into those positions.
>> Yeah.
[44:06] » And that's where we as
people of the county state,
[44:11] » Yeah. [clears throat] Yeah, we need to
be educated on
[44:13] » what to ask, who to ask, when to ask,
>> right? Because some of those bills they
[44:18] proposed, thankfully got voted down in
the legislative season back in February,
[44:25] March,
>> would have really hurt.
[44:28] » It been substantially more difficult.
>> It would people like I don't even know
[44:33] what bills you're talking about.
>> Yeah, it's a big problem.
[44:38] » Communication.
We don't want to engage, but we need we
[44:42] want to complain about it. So, how do we
go investigate it? Try to become
[44:49] educated on it. Yeah.
>> And then what do you do with that
[44:51] information?
>> It's easy to complain. I'm good at it.
[44:54] » Oh, sure. We all are.
>> Yeah.
[44:56] » I don't have a simple answer. I mean the
information is available but like all
[45:02] the bills are online but I mean what
you're talking about is getting people
[45:07] involved and educated and both of those
are difficult tasks.
[45:12] » Yeah.
>> I don't want to discourage you. I mean I
[45:17] would [laughter]
to do what you can do and talk to your
[45:21] legislator.
>> I mean you're 100% right. A lot of
[45:23] people won't say anything until affect
somebody already passed.
[45:28] » Well, we have to see how that change is
going to affect you six months to a year
[45:33] down the road. It's kind of tough at
times, especially when you don't
[45:36] understand all the dynamics going into
that decision.
[45:39] » Yeah.
>> Yeah. You know, at the legislative
[45:42] level, the people that are voting on,
they should be able to they should
[45:45] understand that. And when you ask them a
question, they should be able to tell
[45:48] you how it's going to affect you. If
they can't, that's a pretty good
[45:51] indicator that, you know,
>> it's it's they just vote based upon how
[45:56] they're directed.
[46:00] » Yep.
[46:05] » Anything else, guys? Do I hear a motion
to approve the RNR?
[46:11] » I'll make that motion.
>> I'll second it.
[46:14] » It's been moved and seconded to approve
the RNR rate this year for the county.
[46:19] I'm going to read the resolution before
I say resolution before voted on the
[46:25] resolution.
>> Yep.
[46:26] » Resolution number 09-08-2026.
A resolution of the board of county
[46:32] commissioners of PR County Kansas to
exceed the revenue neutral rate in its
[46:37] property tax levy for the tax year of
2027.
[46:41] Whereas the board of county
commissioners of Pratt Kansas, Pratt
[46:44] County, Kansas is statutoily required to
provide notice and hearing prior to
[46:49] exceeding the revenue neutral rate. And
whereas the Pratt County clerk provided
[46:53] the notice of the hearing on
the revenue neutral rate on August 13,
[46:58] 2026,
August 20th, 2026, and August 27th, 2026
[47:05] via publication in the Tri County
Tribune, and posted the notice on the
[47:10] Pratt County's website.
And whereas a revenue neutral rate for
[47:14] the tax year 2027 for Pratt County was
calculated at 62.655 655 mills by the
[47:21] Pratt County clerk. And whereas the
budget proposed by the PRA board of
[47:26] county commissioners of Pratt County,
Kansas for the tax year 2027 will
[47:31] require the levy of property tax rate
exceeding the revenue neutral rate. And
[47:37] whereas the board of county
commissioners of Pratt County, Kansas,
[47:40] held a hearing on September 8th, 2026,
allowing all interested taxpayers an
[47:45] opportunity to be heard at the hearing.
And whereas the board of county
[47:49] commissioners of Pratt County, Kansas,
having heard testimony, has determined
[47:52] that it's the best interest of Pratt
County to exceed the revenue neutral
[47:56] rate. Now, therefore, be it resolved by
the board of county commissioners of Pra
[48:01] County, Kansas, as follows. The Pratt
Pratt County shall leave a property tax
[48:06] rate which exceeds the revenue neutral
rate of 62.655
[48:10] mills for the tax year 2027.
This resolution shall take effect and be
[48:15] enforced immediately upon its adoption
and shall remain in effect until further
[48:19] action is taken by the board of health
county commissioners of Pratt County,
[48:24] Kansas. Adopted this sleep day of
September 2026.
[48:28] » It's actually a roll call vote on this.
So, I'm just going to call it yay or
[48:33] nay. Chairman Trinkle.
>> Yay.
[48:39] » Commissioner Jones.
>> Yes.
[48:42] Commissioner Shy. Yes.
[48:46] Motion passes. Constituent is certified
and then you guys can execute the
[48:53] resolution.
[49:38] Do I hear a motion to close the revenue
with neutral rate hearing?
[49:46] » So moved.
>> I'll second.
[49:48] » Been moved and second to close a revenue
rate hearing. All in favor say I.
[49:52] » I.
>> Oppose. same signs. Revenue neutral rate
[49:57] hearing is closed.
Now, do I hear a
[50:03] motion to open the
county budget hearing?
[50:08] » I'll make that motion.
>> I'll second.
[50:10] » It's been moved and seconded to open the
county budget hearing. All in favor say
[50:14] I.
>> I. Oppose. Same sign. And uh each person
[50:19] will have three minutes to voice their
concerns from the public if they're
[50:24] interested in saying anything.
[50:29] » We already did that, didn't we?
[laughter]
[50:32] » Again, your procedure. I I I overstepped
my boundaries.
[50:35] » No, no, it happened.
>> We're statutoily required to go in this
[50:40] » and any comment is better than whenever
it happens.
[50:44] » Doesn't matter.
[50:48] We'll wait a few minutes just in case.
>> Scott, you got anything to say on the
[50:53] budget? [clears throat]
>> No, I I think I think uh it's just
[50:58] really complicated the way the process
you can just see all hear all the word
[51:02] the verbiage. And what's really
interesting is um I don't know how many
[51:07] firms are down to but like see it's kind
of like attorneys. There's a shortage of
[51:11] attorneys in the government world and
there's a shortage of CPAs in the
[51:15] government world. And none, as far as I
know, still today, none of the
[51:21] universities or colleges in Kansas teach
government. And so what used to happen
[51:27] was a CPA firm would do taxes and then
do government the rest of the year to
[51:33] kind of like a trucker like backhaul.
And uh so what happened after COVID is
[51:39] people couldn't find anybody to work so
they just basically took tax season
[51:42] because that's where you make a lot of
your money really. And uh so nobody want
[51:47] to do government. Well the problem is if
you don't have those all those firms
[51:51] across Kansas doing student doing
government. There's nobody to feed into
[51:54] these different government positions and
they're not teaching in college. So,
[51:58] we're we're really in a vacuum right now
of trying to find people that have that
[52:03] knowledge, you know, of of government
and um because it's not easy. I mean,
[52:09] like for example, someone asked, I'm I'm
speaking next
[52:13] Thursday, it's called the Kansas Power
Pool. Uh they have bunch of cities. I
[52:19] don't know Pratt. I think Pratt might be
in that too.
[52:21] » But anyway, it's it Pratt city. But
anyway, it they wanted me to come and
[52:26] talk about, you know, just just what
we're talking about here, revenue
[52:28] neutral rate. Uh revenue neutral rate.
Think about this. So, if you at home had
[52:33] a lockdown of your income for six years.
Uh and in that same six-year period,
[52:41] it's a roughly a 30 to 32% increase in
inflation. So, what happens at the
[52:46] county level is when when that's locked
down, it happens in counties more than
[52:51] cities. cities have like Pratt here has
electric and other utilities,
[52:56] » other ways to make money.
>> Other ways to make money. Okay. And
[52:59] that's why some of these like Barber,
I'm I'm helping Barber, but that's why
[53:02] they signed the Google, you know, data a
lot of them because that's the way
[53:06] another way to to make, you know, and
make money. But what's really
[53:10] interesting is when you it's like at
home lock down revenue, uh, 32% where
[53:16] you going to get your resources to do
all these expenses we've been talking
[53:19] about. And so what what ends up
happening is unencumbered cash, which is
[53:23] the amount of cash sitting there to pay
these bills, uh depletes. I had one
[53:28] county uh they had to cut I don't
remember what they cut, but um they were
[53:34] down at the end of 25, they were down to
$6,925
[53:38] in the general fund up in Brown County.
And that's a that's a $229 million
[53:44] county. You're about a $190 million
county based on assessed value. So I
[53:49] asked him I'll show up at this but I
grew up in Shitakqua County which is the
[53:53] poorest county in the state of Kent.
Okay. And we we own Pearl Bank. There's
[53:57] we always did well. I mean my family my
dad was a banker there for 56 years but
[54:01] not one black top road in Shitaka County
except for the state highway. And so
[54:07] Brown County I was telling them there
was several citizens there. I go well
[54:11] this is what it comes down to. You're
you're not getting a black you're not
[54:14] getting chip and seal this year of 90
miles.
[54:17] And there they have 280
miles of laptop the county takes care
[54:24] of.
I said I said well I'd like to have just
[54:28] even 10 miles of that in Chiakaco County
and and that's really there's it's so
[54:33] hard Comanche County right out here. Uh
I don't know how much they have black
[54:38] top chip and seal but they have a mill
levy of 162
[54:46] because see that's what people don't
understand. Cess value here is 190. Uh
[54:52] Brown County is 229. Sumar county is 348
348 million. Theirs is 26,500,000.
[55:03] So see the difference between one mill
26,500
[55:06] and Sar County's got 348,000 for every
meal they have and that's why industry
[55:12] and you know other other means of you
know having having the tax base that's
[55:17] why the tax base is talked about but
it's just it's just hard you know to
[55:22] balance all that I and then next
Thursday they asked me to speak on the
[55:26] future of the political system next
spring I go I can't I don't have a
[55:30] crystal ball you I mean, and what they
were wanting is, so let's just say, I'm
[55:36] just going to play this out. Let's just
say Tai Masterson gets elected. He's a
[55:40] Republican, and the House and Senate are
Republican, and they're the ones driving
[55:46] this these these laws they were talking
about, what one of them was a cap of 3%,
[55:51] I think it was 3% on assessed value.
>> Okay. Well, that's how a lot of times
[55:56] these governments fund is whatever that
assessed value goes up, they leave the
[56:00] meal levy the same. I' I've done that
for 40 years, you know. Yeah. And you
[56:04] leave the mill the same. So, yes, the
people that have the increase in
[56:08] assessed value uh do have a tax
increase, but you're trying to trying to
[56:12] keep it at least steady or up just a
little bit. So, I don't know if they
[56:17] vote if they run those same laws through
and you have a governor that's on their
[56:21] side, what's that going to do? And
that's what they were trying want me to
[56:25] speak to next Thursday. I have no idea.
You know, like good practice if you want
[56:29] to do that one and then go up to the
legislature and do
[56:34] [laughter]
>> Tyson will go with you.
[56:35] » Yeah. Tyson go.
>> We'll support you.
[56:39] » Yeah. We'll get we'll get uh the
counties association on board if you
[56:43] really Well, they've already I've
already [laughter]
[56:47] here's the other thing.
>> I bet we can find someone you for you to
[56:49] stay with, too. I bet
[56:54] » what what what is really interesting is
it's what he's saying is the Kansas
[56:59] Association of Counties and there's two
main ones in the government side. The
[57:03] can Association of Counties for Counties
level and then the League of Kansas
[57:07] Municipalities. Okay, those are two very
powerful
[57:11] » lobbying
>> lobbying groups. Okay.
[57:15] One of the challenges with this 18
mandates they're talking about here that
[57:19] you're you know the states sending them
down but there's no money with them is
[57:24] uh of the KAC I think 44 counties turned
in their information
[57:29] to study that 18 mandates. Okay. And so
105 counties so not even half turned
[57:37] them in and not all of them are members.
Okay. So you have to understand that.
[57:42] But what's the challenge is if you
looked at Pratt County's budget and you
[57:46] saw how they funded employee benefits,
uh the ones he just named off, all those
[57:51] he named off. Okay. Yeah. And then you
go to another county and they're
[57:55] probably going to fund it in a different
way.
[57:58] » So when you're trying what the KC wants
me to do, and I don't I don't think that
[58:02] I don't know if this is possible. school
districts you're talking about back
[58:06] there in school districts the every line
item in a school district budget and in
[58:11] the audit report is basically the same
for all school districts in the state of
[58:15] Kansas because of the department of
education. So you can do a comparison
[58:21] between school districts because each
fund and each line item is pretty much
[58:26] the same. So you can do these different
like you could do AI. You could go in
[58:30] and now I mean I just did this for the
meeting I have tonight at five is take
[58:34] all the documents throw them into AI and
tell me what I need to know about that.
[58:39] Okay. And it it kicked out a really nice
four-page summary. So I'm going to get a
[58:44] hot meeting tonight at 5. Okay. And but
in the in the schools you could do that.
[58:51] But if you did that on every one of the
of the counties, all 105 counties
[58:56] probably report things just a little
different. So KAC says, would you write
[59:02] a white paper? Okay, that would go in
and tell like SE sesses or these, you
[59:09] know, all the different people that
report how to record every transaction
[59:14] they deal with. Now, think about that.
I'm I'm just turned 65. I got my
[59:20] Medicare. Okay. I don't know. I don't I
don't know if I could get that done by
[59:25] 85, you know, but that's what that's the
battle you face. And cities are exactly
[59:30] the same way. If a city has electric,
they are usually set. Okay. I just I'm
[59:37] just Pratt city's probably watching.
They probably don't like hear this, but
[59:40] Pratt City, when you have electric, it's
a cash cow. Now, I don't know if you
[59:44] you're not into Pratt City, but what was
it five four years ago? They were about
[59:48] out of money in their electric because
they hadn't raised the rate since 2012
[59:52] and they raised it and the consultant
said raise it 40%. In one year, okay,
[59:57] and they raised it 21% I believe is what
it was. Okay? And I learned a lot that I
[1:00:04] helped them two years because they
didn't have a finance director. And what
[1:00:07] I didn't understand is like in a city
for example, if your water rate because
[1:00:11] they have a water problem, okay, a major
water problem, okay? If your rate is
[1:00:17] below 50 percentile of all rates in the
state of Kansas, you will not get a
[1:00:22] grant. Okay? And if you're going to do a
$60 million uh nitrate plant, you're not
[1:00:29] going to you're not going to get you're
not going to do it on your own. You
[1:00:31] know, you're going to have to have grant
or money on site. And so what's
[1:00:34] interesting about that is theirs was at
below 25% of this percentile. So they
[1:00:41] raised that one 48% you know and they're
not that happens in almost every city I
[1:00:47] work with the rates because you have
this balance counties don't have that
[1:00:52] all they have basically is avalor tax
you know but these cities they have this
[1:00:58] how how much do I charge utilities how
much do I charge taxes and then uh there
[1:01:03] just there just a so many moving pieces
try to explain that to a citizen
[1:01:09] [laughter]
>> exactly There there's a lot there.
[1:01:11] » There is there's just so much there.
>> So what
[1:01:14] leverage slashinccome besides a tax base
payers?
[1:01:19] » Yeah.
>> Does the county have?
[1:01:22] » Well, you want me to give an example? I
can give a couple examples. So here they
[1:01:26] would have, you know, like wind power
and some of that that helps fund some of
[1:01:30] that.
>> So the the county has contribution
[1:01:33] agreements where each of those projects
makes a yearly payment to the county.
[1:01:38] Mhm.
>> Roughly that number with the two wind,
[1:01:41] the solar,
>> the battery
[1:01:44] » battery when it comes on will be just
under $2 million
[1:01:48] » total.
>> But that's [clears throat] a locked in
[1:01:50] contract over five years, 10 years. Is
it a year to year?
[1:01:53] » Most projects 10 most of them only have
so wind farm life of project they those
[1:01:59] wind farms have the lifetime exemp
exemption that I mentioned earlier. The
[1:02:04] other projects that don't have the
lifetime are 10-year agreements
[1:02:09] um because their exemption only runs for
10 years. So basically during the
[1:02:13] exemption period they've agreed to
contribute a certain amount of money
[1:02:16] annually. Yeah.
>> And right now a lot of that is which
[1:02:21] we'll pay it off next year is for the
building of it.
[1:02:26] We kind of use that money for
>> it's to fund capital
[1:02:32] is our capital improvement plan kind of
like
[1:02:34] » Yeah. So the taxpayers aren't
necessarily paying for the calf bump
[1:02:38] rooms. Those contribution payments are
funding that right now.
[1:02:44] » And each county is different. So go back
to Sumar. Uh they have a jail. I I I've
[1:02:51] never worked with them where it's the
first time. They have 185 bed jail.
[1:02:55] Okay. And I don't know when they built
it, but they have about 83 prisoners
[1:03:00] right now. Kind of run 80 around that is
generating 200,000
[1:03:06] a month uh for that jail from federal
inmates. Okay. Now, you go to each
[1:03:12] county, there'll be some we don't want
to run a motel for the, you know, for
[1:03:16] the prisoners. Okay. Or we don't they'll
just have a there's just so many
[1:03:20] different viewpoints on that. and they
wanting to they wanting to put 20 more
[1:03:25] in and that'd be another million dollars
a year, you know. But then you got to
[1:03:30] have staffing, [clears throat] you know.
>> Got to have the building.
[1:03:32] » Got to have the building.
>> Have the building and then you have to
[1:03:37] do it.
>> Yeah.
[1:03:38] » To the feds.
>> Yep. Yep.
[1:03:42] » Now the sheriff can run the jail.
But if you start taking in federal
[1:03:47] inmates located
and then you go over to Mane County,
[1:03:53] they don't even have a jail. Okay. And
their their sheriff and 911 is probably
[1:03:58] about the size of this room. That's
their building. I mean, it just it's
[1:04:04] really kind of crazy. Yeah.
>> Yeah.
[1:04:07] » You know, you was talking about the mil.
>> Yeah. I've been
[1:04:13] fire chief down here southwest part of
the county coat area almost 40 years and
[1:04:20] I was on the township board and
you know we're we're like at 1.3 mills
[1:04:27] that gets us like $13,000
because there's not much there to tax.
[1:04:33] » Yeah.
>> But that 1.3 mills up in the Preston
[1:04:36] area brings in $30,000.
>> Yeah.
[1:04:40] Well, I think more than that.
>> Well, probably now
[1:04:43] » because I was on the board up there for
a while and we were under a mill and it
[1:04:46] was close to 80,000.
>> Yeah.
[1:04:51] » You see the difference of the mills
there?
[1:04:53] » That's within the county.
>> You know, we don't have much oil or gas
[1:04:56] or anything down there. Homes aren't
really great and there not many of them.
[1:05:01] » Yeah.
>> There's really just nothing to tax.
[1:05:04] » That's right.
>> So,
[1:05:10] And one thing that I'll have to say um
Amy's the county treasurer and we we
[1:05:15] kind of tackled this last year,
>> but another big thing is uh in the
[1:05:20] counties and I just went out to Graham
County uh last week to talk to three
[1:05:25] bankers on this but uh here I don't know
it is about 1.64 interest rate on all
[1:05:31] the county money about it been a year
ago August I think is when we were
[1:05:35] talking.
>> He's talking about idle funds.
[1:05:36] » So idle funds. when you have money
sitting there, you know, between the
[1:05:39] each of the funds and they have a state
law that says basically they're supposed
[1:05:43] to pay the 90-day T bill rate on idle
funds. That's money that's not in your
[1:05:48] operations. It's sitting there for
future capital improvements, whatever.
[1:05:52] So Morgan and session I think
>> I am Amy did. Amy did. Yeah, Amy came
[1:06:00] down. I guess she's weren't in that.
Sometimes the clerk is, sometimes
[1:06:03] they're not. So we sat down with the two
bankers here.
[1:06:07] And uh I think the rate was they just
walked in and they said, "Yeah, we'll
[1:06:12] pay the 90-day TBO rate." That was 4.25,
but see, they're not going to come over
[1:06:16] and tell you that unless you ask.
>> Okay. So, we asked. I think this year
[1:06:21] it'll probably be about $500,000
off of the idle fund money over the year
[1:06:28] that they'll get out of that out of that
from it was like maybe 160,000. So, you
[1:06:34] know, I mean, that's that's quite a bit
of money. That's like two mills
[1:06:37] probably,
>> more than.
[1:06:39] » So, so, and this happens in every there
just so many little things that people
[1:06:43] need to know. Hill City saw me uh uh
Graham, he called me up and said, "Would
[1:06:48] you come talk to me?" This I'd never
seen one like this. They had nine and a
[1:06:52] half million average balance and just in
like their kind of their checking
[1:06:56] account in this one bank. $984
is all they paid on interest last year.
[1:07:02] Okay.
>> [laughter]
[1:07:04] » So when the guy comes over, I had this
worksheet for 25 and 26 just showing how
[1:07:08] much interest it should have been based
on that. It's average of probably around
[1:07:13] 3.75 to 4% is kind of what the 90-day
TBO rate is. They should have paid if
[1:07:19] they paid on the full amount about
400,000. You guys saw that banker try to
[1:07:23] explain that one. $984 and it should
have been closer to $400,000
[1:07:28] » because you know they were making the
money.
[1:07:29] » Yeah. Yeah.
>> Exactly. So, there's just there's a lot
[1:07:32] of things like that that you just got to
kind of keep on top of it and uh but
[1:07:37] it's there's so many rules. I mean,
there's just so many rules.
[1:07:41] » I'll shut up. I I get what I
[1:07:46] Eddie,
>> do you have a question? Maybe
[1:07:50] » I'm sorry. Well, uh I'm sorry to be
late, but another obligation. My my
[1:07:57] question was what what are you doing in
investigation
[1:08:04] in
uh information and public
[1:08:10] comment on the data center?
What where are we as far as Pratt County
[1:08:18] goes
as far as talks? Um,
[1:08:23] » we have not been contacted by anybody.
>> I want to be really clear about this
[1:08:28] because you're not the only person
that's asked this question and I don't
[1:08:31] know who's out in the public suggesting
otherwise. The county is not talking to
[1:08:36] any company about a data center.
>> None.
[1:08:41] Not in the background, not nothing.
>> Yes. To the extent that there is
[1:08:47] anybody that does approach the county,
the county will work with outside
[1:08:52] counsel on a county is already working
with outside council on a comprehensive
[1:08:56] plan which goes through our zoning. If a
data center
[1:09:02] even considers here, we'll have data
center specific regulations through
[1:09:06] zoning that address what they can and
cannot do.
[1:09:10] » And all of those are really big ifs.
They don't just build data centers
[1:09:14] willy-nilly.
To the extent that to the extent that
[1:09:18] they're we're contacted, the public will
be made aware that we've been contacted
[1:09:23] » and there'll be public hearings through
zoning
[1:09:25] » multiple not just I mean there'll be
hearings in at the zoning level.
[1:09:29] There'll be hearings at the commission
level. All of it will be done in public.
[1:09:34] Well, I was at a at a meeting and people
were saying things and I
[1:09:42] » I just couldn't think that
this would be an under the table thing
[1:09:49] that you would not
not really inform the public because
[1:09:56] that gets you in trouble down the line
and and you've experienced that. not
[1:10:03] this council, not this commission, but
the commission before
[1:10:08] » and I thought I I really had very little
knowledge except rumor.
[1:10:15] » And that that is exactly what it is.
>> So I just thought I couldn't come at
[1:10:19] night.
>> Yeah. I thought I would come and say
[1:10:25] uh if you do
uh
[1:10:29] need to or find the the need to start
talking about it. Will you do it? I I
[1:10:39] mean don't just say, "Well, every
meeting's public. Anybody can come but
[1:10:45] say we're going to talk about this and
it won't be anformational meeting.
[1:10:52] » There will be multiple meetings at
different places, zoning meetings, board
[1:10:57] meetings, it will I mean it's hard for
me to predict what a future meeting will
[1:11:01] look like, but to the extent there's a
data center, there'll be multiple
[1:11:04] meetings on it. The public will be aware
of it. The public will be allowed to
[1:11:08] provide input and comment
>> at those meetings. I understand what
[1:11:12] you're saying and and that's kind of
what I ran on when I got in here and you
[1:11:17] can ask Tyson. I like everything out.
>> Yes.
[1:11:20] » That's why we have our
>> I I I don't I don't believe in that. Uh
[1:11:26] there's some things that attorney client
that I think ought to be out that he
[1:11:30] doesn't. We have other
but for me and I'm not speaking for
[1:11:35] these guys but uh I want everything out.
The public needs to know because it's
[1:11:41] their tax dollars.
>> Yeah. You know, it's not ours every
[1:11:45] week.
>> We want everything out to the public.
[1:11:48] So, and if they have a question, they
can back with us and we can we
[1:11:54] » put the rumor to stop.
>> Yeah.
[1:11:58] » You're not the only one.
>> I think it's kind of too bad and I'm
[1:12:02] probably saying more than what you asked
me to say. I think it's too bad we don't
[1:12:08] have an oldtime
>> newspaper,
[1:12:12] » public newspaper
>> and you can just you could just put out
[1:12:16] an announcement that this is on the
agenda.
[1:12:20] » Yeah. And the Tribune, you know, they'll
post the city's meetings all the time.
[1:12:27] » They don't even come to ours.
>> Yeah. They don't even come to ours
[1:12:30] anymore. And I don't know if it's
because we put them on Zoom or where you
[1:12:34] can watch them or
>> Yeah.
[1:12:36] » Well,
>> what the deal is.
[1:12:38] » And I know you can you can watch this,
but I I'm just I don't know. It's my old
[1:12:45] lady mine that says we we need to let
>> Well, I know if we are ever contacted,
[1:12:53] there will be public meetings. Rick and
I were on the planning board when the
[1:12:57] wind farm started.
>> Yeah. There was we had
[1:13:02] numerous public meetings out at the
fairgrounds
[1:13:06] » before that was ever decided upon. The
first the first one especially. Yeah. We
[1:13:11] met, you know, five or six hours at a
time.
[1:13:14] » Yeah. One night we didn't get out of
there till after midnight.
[1:13:17] » Yeah.
>> So there will be public hearings if
[1:13:20] we're ever contacted, but we have not
been
[1:13:24] » none. Zero. I just want to
>> none whatsoever. Yeah, I don't know
[1:13:28] who's spreading that. I think the last
one I heard they was gonna put one in
[1:13:31] the city of Pratt.
>> Well, and I I had another question since
[1:13:36] you gave permission.
>> Uh [clears throat]
[1:13:41] if the windfarm money
becomes available in another year, is
[1:13:47] that correct? That the the bonds on the
safety center will be paid out in 27.
[1:13:55] » Correct. Uh how will that wind farm
money
[1:14:01] » be used
>> be discussed and allocated?
[1:14:04] » Well, we have a capital improvement plan
and some of that will be used for that.
[1:14:11] And
you know, I'm just going to use an
[1:14:15] example. I'm going to use EMS. You know,
they have the power CS.
[1:14:21] one of those breaks, we'll probably use
capital improvement funds to replace it
[1:14:26] instead of coming out of EMS's budget
because those things are very expensive.
[1:14:33] » Yeah, she's going to bring you a copy of
that plan.
[1:14:36] » I can make a copy of this, but this is
our capital improvement. You can pass it
[1:14:39] back when you're done, too. Looking
because he was interested. I know both
[1:14:42] of you guys were. He's got everything
from 5 years, 10 years, 20 years out.
[1:14:47] » And and we go over it yearly and update
it. And you know, like this courthouse,
[1:14:54] you can see all the mold in the
ceilings. Our courthouse is falling
[1:14:58] apart. And it just we got to get it
fixed. The roof's bad.
[1:15:06] You know, we need a new sand pit. We're
about out of sand. We got to find a new
[1:15:10] sand pit. You know, these are things
that
[1:15:14] » but when that's discussed, I I would
think that would
[1:15:20] would require some public notification
also.
[1:15:25] » Yeah. I mean, we'll discuss it in open
session
[1:15:30] » because I have I'm a retired teacher and
I have teacher friends all over the
[1:15:37] state who have had bits and pieces of
wind farm money
[1:15:44] in the schools.
And right now it seems like the hospital
[1:15:49] needs it, but maybe by then they'll have
things. Uh I I just you know I think
[1:15:55] that's
that's one of those things that
[1:16:01] again needs to be be publicized more
than just on your agenda and that's my
[1:16:09] responsibility. I realize
pay attention to that.
[1:16:15] uh when they're going to do something
that important,
[1:16:20] maybe some extra
>> extra notification,
[1:16:24] » just,
you know, we're going to we're going to
[1:16:28] do this
and then if we don't go, then it really
[1:16:33] is.
>> So, um just so the public is aware, the
[1:16:38] county has a capital improvement plan
and a special equipment plan. And if you
[1:16:42] do look over those plans, those are not
guarantees that we're going to do any of
[1:16:48] that. The way it works is the department
heads come in, they request something be
[1:16:52] put in a plan, the commission approves
whether they'll put it in the plan. And
[1:16:58] again, it's not a contractual commitment
to anybody that is going to do it. It
[1:17:02] kind of works as a wish list. And it
also works off there's sometimes some
[1:17:07] like it's set up in immediate five 10
year increments, I think. something we
[1:17:13] that was set up for five years might
become an immediate need and it will
[1:17:17] jump up and any spending that's done out
of either the uh capital improvement or
[1:17:22] special equipment gets approved again
prior to any spending occurring.
[1:17:28] » Yeah, it's got to be it's got to be
allocated and open meeting.
[1:17:33] » Yeah. Well, it just I I think we need to
be
[1:17:39] we as the public need to be more
responsible,
[1:17:44] but I've just heard so many things about
the status center. I decided that
[1:17:50] » appreciate you coming in on that.
>> You're not the only one. I don't know
[1:17:53] who's spreading rumors, but yeah, I
mean, I get stopped all the time about
[1:17:57] it,
>> but if you come and you say no, we have
[1:18:02] done nothing. Yeah,
>> I'll believe you.
[1:18:06] » And
>> because normally they come and see us
[1:18:08] during a meeting, [clears throat]
>> but
[1:18:11] » so because some some people want it and
some people don't. And I have I don't
[1:18:17] have enough information to make a
determination.
[1:18:21] » Well, and that's a problem, too, because
you can find anything you want on the
[1:18:25] internet for it or against it. Whether
it's true or not, who knows?
[1:18:31] And I don't really know any of you,
but I'm Karen Pinkle
[1:18:37] » and I just I'm just
>> Yeah, we appreciate you coming in.
[1:18:43] » Yes.
>> But yeah, anything
[1:18:48] major, we try to get the word out that
we'll try to do better, I guess.
[1:18:53] » Yeah. on the on the zoning stuff. It's
not only try, it's statuto required that
[1:18:59] we have public meetings and that's what
would happen. And just and this isn't at
[1:19:06] you just to the public in general.
Uh
[1:19:12] I don't really know how to say what I
want to say, but I can say that rumors
[1:19:16] aren't helpful
to the community. They're not helpful to
[1:19:21] my board. We spend a good deal of time
and they spend taxpayer money paying me
[1:19:31] to deal with those rumors.
>> We have quarter requests that are based
[1:19:36] off rumors. That takes time. That takes
effort. And that's time and effort that
[1:19:42] can be spent doing things that are
productive, not not responding to
[1:19:46] rumors.
>> Well, and I understand that. and
[1:19:52] technology has, you know, made it really
easy to spread through numbers.
[1:19:58] » Yeah.
>> And uh so just I was just interested and
[1:20:07] » anytime you got questions or hear
something, come see us.
[1:20:10] » Yes, we're here every Monday at two.
>> Well, your line items in your budget. A
[1:20:14] lot of these just placeholders. We think
we want to spend money here. We think
[1:20:18] we're that rolls up to our budget. Yeah.
that you can substitute should another
[1:20:22] emergency arise.
>> Yeah, absolutely.
[1:20:24] » Yeah. So, let's say
>> there's no guarantee on any one of
[1:20:27] those.
>> Fair enough. Fair enough. Yeah. It's not
[1:20:30] a guarantee [laughter] because we've had
Well, let's say the air conditioner goes
[1:20:36] out here.
>> Yes.
[1:20:37] » You know, we got to replace it. So, we
move that up.
[1:20:44] Well, and I have to say thank you for
your service because I know how much
[1:20:49] time
this takes. And then to have
[1:20:55] rumors take more time,
it's it's too bad.
[1:21:01] But I'm
>> I'm interested to be here and kind of
[1:21:08] see who you are
>> and I see your names and uh kind of know
[1:21:14] about you, but I don't know. So,
>> I'll brag on them a little bit. That
[1:21:20] that notebook right there, I don't know
of another county their size or even
[1:21:26] larger that has the detail they have in
that notebook. Most
[1:21:30] » that's Sasha.
Don't look at that. Sasha is the one
[1:21:33] that paid that book. Yes,
>> it's all Sasha and her office.
[1:21:37] » That's Tyson's suggestion.
>> We we talk about it a lot because it's
[1:21:41] very important. It's like at home a five
to sevenyear plan, you know, where
[1:21:45] you're at. And because those big costs
are what's going to make that meal levy,
[1:21:49] you know, go up or whatever if you don't
have it planned out. and having a plan
[1:21:53] like that flowing the receipt side up
here and the expenditure side down here
[1:21:59] and it's just like at home and just
flowing making sure you're never in the
[1:22:02] hole, you know, because uh people don't
understand that government you can't go
[1:22:07] like to a line of credit at a bank, you
know, like if I wanted to go get money
[1:22:11] for my firm and I needed some extra
money, I would go get a line of credit
[1:22:15] at the bank, help me through a slow
period and then pay that back.
[1:22:19] Governments can't do that. They can't go
get a line of credit. That's why we have
[1:22:22] to have the unencumbered cash balances
to sustain uh what's going on. If the
[1:22:28] air conditioner goes out, I think over
summer it was 450,000 in the jail. I
[1:22:32] don't know what they are here.
>> Sorry about that much.
[1:22:35] » But 450,000 is not something you just
you just write a check for, you know,
[1:22:40] without making sure you've planned
appropriately. And they've done a
[1:22:43] they've really done a good job. They've
all done a good job of make Tyson's
[1:22:47] written uh the other thing that's neat
about this is there's I think they're
[1:22:51] called resolutions for both the
equipment and the capital proment to say
[1:22:56] how that once it gets in there how's it
spent and how do how do they walk that
[1:23:01] through. So it's not like you're just
throwing a bunch of money in there and
[1:23:03] it's a wish list. There's steps to go
through to make sure those are
[1:23:07] appropriately spent. So
>> year over year do you increase that
[1:23:10] basis upon what you perceive with
inflation meaning 3 to 5% year-over-year
[1:23:16] the last couple years?
>> Well we have our department head kind of
[1:23:20] review it and then we mark off what
we've done
[1:23:24] » looking at your capital.
>> Yeah and even the special equipment. Uh
[1:23:29] yeah, you know, something's, you know,
let's say somebody's going to remodel,
[1:23:32] let's say, the jail,
>> you know, when that's a $3 million
[1:23:37] project or whatever and it's been on the
list three or four years. We probably
[1:23:40] ought
to raise that up a little bit, you know,
[1:23:44] just from a place you like to say.
>> That's why we kind of go over it.
[1:23:50] » Yeah.
>> Once a year and
[1:23:53] » and who are you?
>> Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Scott. I'm Scott
[1:23:56] Lloyd. Oh, you weren't here when I
stopped. I think I got a card.
[1:24:00] » No, you just don't have a name plate.
[1:24:06] » I just showed up because I love budget
meetings.
[1:24:09] » You're a great paid individual.
>> He's a CPA that helps you with the
[1:24:14] budget. Well, and I have another thing
that you're discussing.
[1:24:19] » Um I I hear constantly about property
tax, property tax, property tax.
[1:24:27] » And then I see we have two school
districts and a college and then we
[1:24:34] compare ourselves to other counties and
it seems like that is not comparing
[1:24:42] correctly. I mean, if we have three
entities, well, in a hospital, we have
[1:24:49] four.
Uh,
[1:24:53] [snorts] what what one of those do do
people want to drop off? I mean, which
[1:25:01] which one of those four is not
important?
[1:25:06] And why would we not have higher
property tax
[1:25:12] because of that? Now, what's wrong with
my thinking?
[1:25:19] » You know, the the two school thing,
we're not the only county that has two
[1:25:23] high schools or two two schools in the
district. Uh Stafford County got St.
[1:25:30] John, they've got Stafford.
So, they got three.
[1:25:33] » Yeah.
in their deal. And if you look at our
[1:25:38] at our taxing map,
you know, I'm going to use Skyline as an
[1:25:44] example, but they actually go into
Barber County, and those people down
[1:25:48] there are taxed, too.
>> Yeah. Well, I knew they sent buses down
[1:25:53] there. And uh
>> the further west you get, the more
[1:25:58] school districts you're in. You know,
like one school district, I got one I
[1:26:01] audited out Winona. It's one of the
smallest in the state.
[1:26:05] » They've got [clears throat] five school
districts in that one school. I mean,
[1:26:08] five counties in that one school
district because they have such a big
[1:26:12] area. So, it kind of depends, you know,
further west you go. And it's the same
[1:26:16] with hospitals. hospitals when you go
from about Pratt to the Colorado line
[1:26:21] almost every county has some kind of
relationship with a hospital and that
[1:26:26] just comp I mean that that's a lot
there's a lot of additional funding I
[1:26:31] mean that
>> so you can compare yourself with other
[1:26:35] counties
>> you can because I thought maybe this was
[1:26:38] unique
>> no
[1:26:40] » we haven't lived here
>> now we have a cho that's unique
[1:26:44] » that's unique yeah
>> the college but uh
[1:26:49] you know, and and even the hospital,
yes, you are paying a sales tax for the
[1:26:55] bonds, but as far as any taxes
going towards the hospital,
[1:27:03] the only taxpayer money they get is what
we give our hospital board who oversees
[1:27:09] the maintenance of the building. That's
correct.
[1:27:12] » Which is about 80,000 a year.
>> No, it's pretty heavy. I think it's 300
[1:27:18] » 350
>> 380 I think 350
[1:27:22] » it's a pretty good
>> but again that's the physical the
[1:27:27] county's assets
>> yeah we own the building so
[1:27:31] » our hospital board
>> there's another one that's pretty
[1:27:34] confusing when you talk about boards you
got the board that represents the entity
[1:27:39] of the doctors in the facilities and
medical field and you got a board
[1:27:43] represents the county which
>> manages the building in a
[1:27:47] » Yeah, there's also one more board.
>> Yeah, [laughter] I'm going to bring that
[1:27:53] up. You want to let go?
>> I mean, it's helpful. I mean, just in
[1:27:57] case any members of the public are
watching, there's also a foundation
[1:28:00] board and that that foundation is the
sole shareholder of VRMC.
[1:28:08] So, even more complicated, but there,
you know, there's a lot of you're right,
[1:28:12] it's complicated. There's a lot of
moving parts to it.
[1:28:15] » Let's see. This is just I've I've become
more educated about that in the last few
[1:28:22] months because of the problems. Maybe we
should have
[1:28:27] » No, I don't.
>> Well, it's funny you bring up community
[1:28:32] that
>> you bring up community college. So, the
[1:28:36] way it used to happen when I first
started,
[1:28:40] » uh it wasn't funded like locally like it
is now. you know, they just raised the
[1:28:43] taxes and it's, you know, here. So, if
you were a student from Shitakqua County
[1:28:48] and you came to Pratt County, okay, then
you actually your okay, Pra County would
[1:28:56] send a notice. I don't know if it went
through the I can't remember if it went
[1:28:59] through the clerk or straight to the
county clerk at Shiitaka County and that
[1:29:04] county had to pay for that student
because they went to Pratt County. You
[1:29:08] see what I'm saying? I mean, it was very
that was very complicated back then
[1:29:12] because you had all these students going
everywhere and then they ch I don't know
[1:29:15] what year they changed that. They
changed that here
[1:29:17] » uh probably about 20 years ago.
>> Uh because they didn't think it was fair
[1:29:21] that Pra County had to uh I'm not just
using PR county. They didn't think it's
[1:29:26] fair that P County had to come up with
all the resources that that if that
[1:29:29] student came from another county, that
county should help fund it. That's the
[1:29:33] way it used to be. But they changed
that. [clears throat]
[1:29:38] Well, thank you.
>> Thank you for coming.
[1:29:44] » Anytime.
>> And if you get a copy of that, if you
[1:29:48] get a copy of that capital improvement
book, it's great way to u uh fall asleep
[1:29:52] at night. Okay. [laughter]
[1:29:57] » On the budget. Yeah. I mean, it's
riveted. God's riv.
[1:30:03] » So, did you look at that book? Do we
need to go upstairs and talk to you and
[1:30:06] come back down?
>> Yeah. Yeah. or I get you a copy whatever
[1:30:08] whatever it is.
>> Yeah.
[1:30:16] » I just ask questions and another can of
worms opens about another board.
[1:30:21] So I need to be careful
[1:30:25] like my job. [laughter]
thing.
[1:30:32] » Anybody else have any questions for the
on the hearing of the budget?
[1:30:39] » Do you guys have any
>> any of us?
[1:30:47] Do I hear a motion to
adopt our 2027 budget?
[1:30:52] » I'll make that motion.
>> Second it. It's been moved and seconded
[1:30:56] to adopt our 2027 budget. All in favor
say I. I. Oppose. Same sign. Motion
[1:31:03] carries.
[1:31:30] after that or you want me to wait until
I saw
[1:31:34] » Oh, yeah. Just wait till it's done.
That's great. Y
[1:31:40] » you've already sent that one.
[1:31:44] » That so it's all t.
>> So then when it's done, just send a
[1:31:48] stop.
>> Okay. Y
[1:31:49] » I can do it.
[1:31:59] I think it was about two years ago,
maybe three, two, I think at least, we
[1:32:03] would we started doing a department head
training. So like when we would come
[1:32:06] down usually in March or April and we'd
have all the department heads in here
[1:32:11] because you know the flow of this
information is very important that all
[1:32:15] levels understand it. You the citizens
also but it's very important the
[1:32:20] department heads understand the nuances
of RNR revenue neutral rate how it
[1:32:25] works. You can't just ask for a wish
list. you know, these are things that
[1:32:29] are needed and then that that's how that
capital improvement, you know, we've
[1:32:32] been working on that now for a while.
But that's a great it's usually about
[1:32:36] two and a half hours that we work with
the just talking and they can ask
[1:32:40] questions and the more the department
heads understand the budget, the better
[1:32:44] it is for these people sitting here
because it's just it's a chain kind of
[1:32:48] like a chain reaction, you know. And it
used to be when I did budgets, oh my
[1:32:53] goodness, they would come in and and I'd
set not here at when I I used to do
[1:32:57] Marian for a long time and they would
come in and I would put the numbers in
[1:33:02] and it'd be 10 mills over last year's
budget because they'd have wish list,
[1:33:07] you know, until [clears throat] you
train them to understand that. I mean,
[1:33:12] it's good to want and we want better for
their department, but you can't just
[1:33:17] throw, you know, oh, I want 200,000 here
or 200,000 here because that just
[1:33:21] doesn't work. So, we we try to explain
that, you know, the best we can. I think
[1:33:25] that's helped not just to
>> this is a good place to give more color,
[1:33:29] too, and probably a good way to end, but
>> why don't you just walk through your
[1:33:34] process with us each year and that way
the public's aware of what's happening.
[1:33:38] So I had mentioned we have bud budget
study sessions earlier.
[1:33:41] » Yeah.
>> Give color on the whole timeline how
[1:33:44] this works. So, uh, and I I may miss if
I miss something, you jump in here, but
[1:33:49] we we usually start around February or
March getting getting these counties
[1:33:54] that we work with like Pratt uh, in
order and then we set up a calendar, do
[1:33:59] session
>> and um, so like and and here here would
[1:34:04] be like the budget calendar, okay, that
we would set up, but but we would do
[1:34:08] like this year we did u department head
training on April 7th, okay? So April
[1:34:14] 7th, we come and we spend about three
hours. It's usually a morning and we go
[1:34:18] through the budget, last year's budget,
go through the information, tell them
[1:34:22] how to present their information to the
commission, okay? And and go through
[1:34:27] that whole process. Then they go back
and work on their budget. Okay? So, and
[1:34:31] if they have questions, they got my
card. I mean, they I I get calls and
[1:34:35] they'll ask, "How should I do this or
how should I do that?" Then on April
[1:34:40] 5th, which is about I mean I'm sorry,
May 5th, about a month later, they would
[1:34:44] actually come in and make their
presentation to the county commission
[1:34:49] based on how they've put their budget
together and questions are asked. And
[1:34:53] that's a good if you want to come to a
good one to understand how all the
[1:34:57] departments uh work in the county. Not
all of them may like somebody might be
[1:35:02] on vacation or somebody might be gone.
They'll come in our time, but most of
[1:35:06] the department heads on on May 5th would
come in. It goes from it goes from 9:00
[1:35:11] a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It usually gets done
about probably 2 or 3, but it's it's a
[1:35:16] long day
>> and everybody comes in day, you know,
[1:35:19] some of the questions that you were
asking. It's a great day. Yeah. And if
[1:35:23] you wanted to go back and watch all
that's online,
[1:35:26] » all that's online it's a good day. It's
a good learning day for every
[1:35:30] » and I love it because uh even though
I've worked on Pratt for now I think
[1:35:35] about my fifth year uh every year is a
little different and I always learn
[1:35:40] something you know and I learn something
what they're maybe doing it also helps
[1:35:44] me with other counties so you can kind
of say well that works over here you
[1:35:47] know so that's that's a that's a big day
then I take all those or Lauren I she's
[1:35:53] a lady that helps me in my firm um she
takes all those all those uh
[1:35:59] presentations and we put together a
budget, okay, to the best of our ability
[1:36:04] with everything we know. And then we
come back. The first time we come back
[1:36:08] this year was June 16th. So about
another month we'll come back and that's
[1:36:12] another great day to be that very first
time that we present uh all those
[1:36:17] department heads put in the actual
budget because on June 15th, this is
[1:36:22] June 16th. On June 15th, we get the
estimated assessed value from the
[1:36:28] appraiser and that includes state assess
which came in I think on June 1st and
[1:36:33] then all the other assessments uh are
put together and that's the estimated
[1:36:38] assessed value. So this budget we just
approved is still on estimated assessed
[1:36:44] value.
We they'll have it all signed and then
[1:36:48] by October 1st they will actually have
the final value. clerk will go back
[1:36:53] through it again, make sure everything's
ready to be able to send to the county
[1:36:57] treasur for your tax statement. Okay.
Then after that rough draft, I don't
[1:37:02] remember how many meetings we had this
year. Probably two more.
[1:37:06] » We had some Zoom meetings.
Yeah. Or phone calls. You know,
[1:37:12] sometimes there'll be a phone call. But
um so I come back and then we'll talk
[1:37:16] about and then what we've done then is
we'll come down. I'll just give you an
[1:37:19] example that happens in all counties. We
try to get all the budget done to the
[1:37:23] best of our ability and at that point we
maybe haven't addressed a cola or a
[1:37:29] raise for employees or we don't know
maybe what the health insurance raise is
[1:37:34] going to be. Okay. So we'll know some of
that and we'll come back for another
[1:37:39] meeting and just talk about these bigger
things that we need to figure out now
[1:37:43] that we know all the littleer things.
Here's some big things. [clears throat]
[1:37:46] How are we going to fund this? So um
I'll give you an example.
[1:37:51] not here, but this just happened. Summer
County is new this year and they are
[1:37:56] building a 911 center. Okay, now I'm not
bragging on myself. I'm just I'm just
[1:38:02] bragging on I'm bragging on how we had
to have so many people working on this
[1:38:07] piece to work. They did not have enough
money to build the two the right at $2
[1:38:13] million 911 center. Okay. So, uh, by
statute, equipment reserve, you remember
[1:38:20] how we talked about equipment reserve?
They have about $2 million in there. So,
[1:38:25] you can transfer that money anytime you
want back to the general fund. So, we
[1:38:29] transferred $900,000 back to the general
fund. In a sense, borrowed it for the
[1:38:34] for the rest of this year, and then the
J the sheriff that making the 200,000 a
[1:38:39] month is actually going to help fund it
next spring to pay that off. But you
[1:38:43] don't want to get in that situation. You
don't want to come down to a situation
[1:38:46] where you have a $2 million building and
you can't fund half of it. You see what
[1:38:51] I'm saying? So, there's so many moving
pieces, you know, in in that budget. But
[1:38:56] those are the types of things you get
the kind of the the department heads
[1:38:59] done. You meet with the commission, you
put the budget together, and then you
[1:39:03] start going like you were asking later,
why is it this way or why is it that
[1:39:07] way? And then we just work through them.
And
[1:39:10] » there are always issues. There's always
Yeah. Yeah.
[1:39:13] » It's when I don't sleep for two months.
>> How do you mitigate your exposure? Not
[1:39:19] putting together budget, not knowing
what you're really dealing with in
[1:39:23] income or receipts in coming in tax
base.
[1:39:28] » I mean, you got to have I wouldn't want
to be in two months without sleeping.
[1:39:32] » I mean, you could explain it maybe
better from a legal standpoint, but you
[1:39:36] know, I had this happen last year. So,
this guy stands up up at Brown County
[1:39:41] where I was helping him and he says,
"I'm not going to pay my taxes." Okay?
[1:39:45] I'm just not going to pay my taxes.
Well, there's things in place that
[1:39:47] that's not going to happen because, you
know, you're you're going to go through
[1:39:50] a sheriff sale. I mean, there you're
going to get it. So, he looked at me and
[1:39:54] he said, I was explaining the law and
I'm not an attorney, I told him, but I'm
[1:39:58] explaining the law. And he says, "Well,
why don't you just repossess my house?
[1:40:02] You just take it, Mr. Lloyd." I go, "I
don't need a house in Brown County."
[1:40:06] Okay.
And uh that's that's sometimes a comment
[1:40:10] you get, you know, it's kind of kind of
smiley. And I explained to him and
[1:40:14] people don't understand that. But see,
you have what is it three I think you
[1:40:18] publish three times the delinquent tax
list. Okay. You've seen it probably in
[1:40:22] the paper.
>> Is that right? I think it's three times.
[1:40:26] » And and then you'll you know, so there's
a process in place for to mitigate like
[1:40:31] you're saying whether you can get that
collection of taxes or not. Okay. You
[1:40:35] should always get it. Now, I've had some
counties that have went, this is pretty
[1:40:39] bad. I mean, I had one county probably
five years because they didn't have a
[1:40:43] tax sale. So, see what happens is when
that property sets there and nobody's
[1:40:48] paying their taxes and it's delinquent,
the quicker you can have that tax sale
[1:40:52] to get that piece of property back on
the tax roll, the quicker you collect
[1:40:56] that that money. And there may be other
parts of that.
[1:40:58] » There so there's a statuto procedure
that we have to follow, but I can here's
[1:41:02] what I can say without getting into the
weeds. We do a tax foreclosure
[1:41:06] proceeding every year. Yep.
>> It takes significant county resources to
[1:41:10] do it, but we're also able to capture
back significant amount of money.
[1:41:15] » Yeah. And that would be one of the
biggest mitigations probably.
[1:41:18] » The other thing you might want to talk
about like estimates on sales tax and
[1:41:22] the amount of money that has come in.
That's good.
[1:41:25] » So, if you were looking at the general
fund, the general fund is the one that
[1:41:28] wants to be very healthy. Now, this is
just a Scott Lloyd rule. Uh my
[1:41:33] grandparents grew up in the depression
and they always pressed on me the three
[1:41:37] to six month rule of your cash reserves
at home. Okay, three to six months of
[1:41:41] expenditures should be in your savings
account. Okay, so about 20 years ago I
[1:41:45] started applying that to governments,
cities and counties. And that's why we
[1:41:49] shoot for that because that county up
there that I took over, they had $6,925.
[1:41:55] They had not been doing that. They had
not been watching their cash reserves.
[1:42:00] And so what is very dangerous is in the
general fund you'll see there's there's
[1:42:05] probably a list of receipts about this
long. One of those is sales tax. So
[1:42:10] let's just say I'm just going to use
that as an example. Let's say in 25
[1:42:14] which would been the first column the 27
budget we collected
[1:42:18] um 2 million or 1 million 1,500,000.
That was the sales tax in Pra County
[1:42:24] that they're shared. Okay. We don't want
to go in and say okay that's going to go
[1:42:29] up. we'll go 1.7 million in 26 and 1.8
million in 27.
[1:42:36] You don't want to do that. You want to
always stay under that. And we try to do
[1:42:39] that with every line item because it's
like at home. If you say you're going to
[1:42:44] make 50,000 as a household, but you only
bring home 40,000, but you built your
[1:42:50] budget on 50,000, what happens? Probably
you're probably going to be out of cash.
[1:42:55] You see what I'm saying? So, it's a lot
better to say $1.2 million on a $1.5
[1:43:02] million sales tax. So, what happens is
is when that flows through, we're
[1:43:07] probably going to end up with a little
more cash on hand than we anticipated,
[1:43:12] but that's a good thing. I always say
cash is king. It's just like it is at
[1:43:16] home. Okay. Uh but there's a lot of
things like there's
[1:43:19] » And same with EMS receipt.
>> EMS receipts.
[1:43:22] » There is a way to attempt to mitigate
exposure. It's not,
[1:43:26] » you know, precise science, but
>> yeah. So, so hardly ever, I mean, it
[1:43:32] does happen, but hardly ever do we
overestimate the receipt side on a
[1:43:38] budget even outside the taxes like he's
talking with the MS because you don't
[1:43:42] want you don't want to end up with, you
know, uh, spending it on money you're
[1:43:47] not collecting.
>> Well, you know, good example was
[1:43:50] already, you know, during co
>> Yeah.
[1:43:53] them ambulances were running like crazy.
>> Yeah.
[1:43:57] » And we plugged that number back in. It's
over. It's over.
[1:44:01] » Yeah.
>> Yeah.
[1:44:02] » So, we had to adjust.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
[1:44:08] » Well, it's just like anything. There's
always more to it when you're involved
[1:44:14] » than when you're looking from outside,
why don't they do this? And uh being in
[1:44:21] the school system as long as I was and I
didn't I was not here.
[1:44:27] » Yeah.
>> And um parents would come and well why
[1:44:33] do you have this rule or why
>> why can't I do this and uh there's just
[1:44:40] more to it.
>> Yeah. Absolutely.
[1:44:44] » So I I appreciate hearing this.
>> Yeah.
[1:44:48] It was a learning curve for me when I
went, this was just my second year and I
[1:44:55] went to new commissioner meeting in
Topeka
[1:45:00] about two weeks I think after I was
sworn in. I didn't realize there were
[1:45:06] how many unfunded mandates the state
forced on the c on all counties, not
[1:45:12] just Pratt, but all counties. I did not
realize that. that everybody the
[1:45:16] counties had to fund stuff like that
with no money from the state but
[1:45:21] demanded
>> it had to be done.
[1:45:25] So it was a cult eyeopening experience
for me. I enjoy it but it's a learning
[1:45:31] curve.
>> How much do you enjoy it?
[1:45:35] » Well, I enjoy this. There's certain
parts that I never would
[1:45:43] » but I enjoy it.
[laughter]
[1:45:49] » Until you're involved, you don't
>> Yeah.
[1:45:55] have appreciated hearing this and I
>> I feel very confident that
[1:46:02] » you're telling me the truth and uh you
don't have some
[1:46:09] unfunded idea
>> we know
[1:46:15] » we will hear about it before you do it.
>> Yep.
[1:46:18] » Guaranteed.
>> Guaranteed. Yes.
[1:46:21] number one.
>> I'll let you finish up. Thank you.
[1:46:25] » Great questions.
>> Thank you for coming. Come back anytime.
[1:46:28] Yeah.
>> And I think I remember a long time ago
[1:46:31] seeing Tyson play football.
[1:46:36] » Was he any good?
>> We used to come to football games.
[1:46:40] » Oh,
>> okay.
[1:46:42] » So, we did see you play football.
>> And before you leave, I just wanted to
[1:46:48] thank you. I believe we received a card
from you about elections. Was that you?
[1:46:52] » Oh, that is incredibly kind. Thank you
so much for sending a card. Not very
[1:46:57] many people go out. So, before you left,
I just wanted to extend my gratitude.
[1:47:01] Thank you.
>> Okay. Well, thank you. I just um I went
[1:47:06] I didn't mind going to the county uh to
the 4 center and they even had a
[1:47:12] drive-thru that I don't have my didn't
have to take my little clients here.
[1:47:18] » But I just thought it went so smoothly
and it just it just had I thought people
[1:47:26] need to be thanked. Yeah.
>> Thank you. We we very much appreciate
[1:47:30] it. It really
>> Sasha did an excellent job. Y
[1:47:35] » now I'll still go back out there. I
don't I'm not going to put my ballot in
[1:47:39] the mail.
>> Yep. So we have we have curbside for
[1:47:42] you.
>> [laughter]
[1:47:43] » But I I feel confident too that if we if
we do what the law says, we should be
[1:47:52] fine. If we just don't have
someone doing unfunded mandate
[1:48:01] to us, [laughter]
>> I hope that anyway, thank you very much.
[1:48:07] This is good. I I probably will be back
because I I find it interesting.
[1:48:15] » I really do.
>> Thank you.
[1:48:18] » Thank you.
Anybody have anything else?
[1:48:23] » I hear a motion to close a budget
hearing.
[1:48:27] » I'll make that motion.
>> Second.
[1:48:29] » Been moved and seconded to close the
2027 budget hearing. All in favor say I.
[1:48:35] » I.
>> Same sign. Motion carried. We budget
[1:48:40] here is closed.
>> I grab you for sure.