NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Reno County Commissioner Daniel Friesen says the short term budget situation is good for the county, but the long term is where he has some concerns.
"I don't see it being a short term challenge or a challenge in this year's budget," Friesen said. "I see it as one that's going to kind of show up in latter years, two to five years down the road. As inflation and other pressures hit the consumer, I think we'll see some sort of natural change downward in the economy. That takes a while to ripple through to the county, or just any government revenue."
It helps that as property values rise, so also do property taxes.
"The challenge, this year, is to plan for the future and not take advantage of the fact that we probably will be looking at a fairly positive revenue situation in the county," Friesen said. "It's very similar at the state level. My goal would be to continue to prepare now. That's just good tax policy, anyway."
Friesen sees the economic downturn on the horizon as eventually having a negative effect in those out years.
"Eventually, we're going to get a higher rate of delinquencies and failure to pay," Friesen said. "It will catch up eventually, if there isn't some better balancing that occurs naturally in the economy. Hopefully, the other commissioners agree that, while this is a great time for tax revenue, it's not a great time for many consumers and we ought to look to reduce our tax rates where we can."
This is the last budget that will be dealt with by a three person commission. The commission will expand to five members as of the beginning of 2023.