By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A report put out by the Kansas Policy Institute on county budgets is designed to allow taxpayers to look a little more deeply into how their government units spend their tax dollars.
"Reno County has a population around 63,000, while Butler County has about 66,000," Austin said. "That's a difference of about 3000 residents. Despite having a really close, really similar population, Reno County spends 15% fewer dollars per resident than Butler County when it comes to law enforcement. On the flip side, Butler County has about 5% more people, and yet spends 75% fewer dollars than Reno County on court services."
The point is to allow taxpayers to ask questions as to why dollars are spent to the county commission that approves those expenditures.
"Kansans can see on one easy spreadsheet how their county compared to another," Austin said. "Hopefully, by looking at that comparison, they can ask their county commissioners questions as to why that spending is different and whether it really is a matter of efficiency or whether there is something intrinsic to that county that needs to be addressed."
The numbers are from 2018, so that actual expenditures can be measured.
"If we were to look at 2019 or 2020, we'd either be looking at an approved budget or an adopted budget, or maybe even a proposed budget for 2021," Austin said. "We wanted to give Kansans the most accurate information available and we decided that would have to be the actual dollars spent."
Kansas counties in total spent $2.9 billion (net of transfers) in 2018, with “General Government” as the largest fund.