NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — With the Kansas Senate Tax Committee holding a hearing on a bill to restore Local Ad Valorem Tax Reduction (LAVTR) Funding to counties on Thursday, Hutch Post asked Reno County Administrator Randy Partington what that might mean for Reno County.
"Commissioner Parks mentioned a few months ago, it's about $2.5 million, three to three and a half mill reduction," Partington said. "That's just from the information we have, that's not scientific. We haven't sat down and calculated the exact numbers."
LAVTR in Kansas has not received any contributions since 2003. The last time the Kansas Legislature considered funding LAVTR was 2004.
Following a weather event like the one since the new year is a good time to remember that for those counties that don't have a lot of cities, more of a burden goes back on county work crews to cover the ground they have.
"You never know how much salt or different materials you're going to need," Partington said. "The overtime, the cost to treat roads, you can never have enough [in reserve]."
It is politically easy to continue to make a budget change each year that can be hidden in a bigger bill to take this away from counties, that's what has been done for decades, but to follow what is already written is more of a challenge.
"The county commissioners just want the portion that is in statute to come back to Reno County to help offset taxes, to truly come back, instead of being pushed into the state fund for them to use," Partington said.
An amendment to the budget was proposed and passed by the House to fund LAVTR in 2023, but ultimately the amendment failed to move forward in the Senate.
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