NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — As Reno County Administrator Randy Partington continues his work through the 2025 budget process, he's still looking for more specifics from commissioners on whether they want to try to cut enough to remain revenue neutral and keep the budget at the same amount dollar for dollar, or whether they want to try to be mill levy neutral, which would allow them some spending flexibility up to the increase in valuation.
"The direction from the commission hasn't really been real clear yet," Partington said. "It is my understanding from talking with them individually, they would like to try to be revenue neutral, knowing that might not be possible, because there are very few areas to cut in the budget."
The reason remaining revenue neutral would require cuts is simple. The costs of everything have gone up due to inflation, so in order to stay dollar for dollar the same, you would have to cut services to equal that out.
"You can cut the budget in some areas, very limited amounts of dollars, or you can use up a lot of the cash reserves, which then puts us in a worse position for future years," Partington said.
There is some cash that the county can use to mitigate inflation just a bit.
"We have probably $6 million to $8 million in cash reserves," Partington said. "It's very healthy right now. What I'll probably recommend to the county commission, when I give my proposed budget, will be as close to a flat mill levy, or a small decrease, as possible, which will take away some of that cash. I will use some of that to get them a starting point of a flat mill levy, as close as I can get."
Cuts after that point will need to be directed by commissioners as part of the budget process. They will have a retreat to find out more information about this later in May. The budget must be finished in August.
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