Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

At this time, I would like to recess from the BOCC meeting, and I would like to open a meeting for the governing body of Fire District number one. Madam Clerk, first item, please.

Roll call. Commissioner Meitzner. Commissioner Beatty. Present. Commissioner Howe.

Present.

Commissioner Weiss. Present. Chairman Blubaugh.

Present. Next item, please.

Public agenda.

We have no one signed up on the public agenda. Next item.

New business, item A, public hearing regarding proposed property tax levy in excess of the revenue neutral rate and adoption of revenue neutral rate resolution for the 2027 fire district number one budget.

Okay. Before we get into these items, I wanted to explain the procedures that will follow. It's going to be similar to what we did with the BOCC earlier. First, we'll have the revenue neutral rate agenda item, which includes a public hearing and potential action by the board. Then after that is completed, we'll have the next agenda item, which is the public hearing of the 2027 budget of the Sedgwick County Fire District number one. Subsequent to the budget's public hearing, there is an agenda item for the planned adoption of the budget. So I am now opening the public hearing regarding the 2027 Sedgwick County Fire District number one proposed budgetary tax levy in excess of the revenue neutral and adoption of revenue neutral resolution. Please note that if you wish to provide oral testimony on the Fire District proposed budget to levy a tax in excess of the revenue neutral rates, this is your opportunity to provide public comments.

So first speaker will be our county manager, Tom Solis. Thank you, Chairman. Sorry, I keep wanting to jump ahead of you on this process. And just for humor, my script says this morning. I'll change that to this afternoon. This is the first and only required hearing on the recommended budget's proposed property tax levy in excess of the revenue neutral rate. The revenue neutral rate mill levy is 15.576 mills. The recommended budget would be supported with a property tax levy of $25,438,662, which is approximately equivalent to 16.754 mils. This is the first of two public hearings related to the Fire District 1's recommended budget this afternoon. This hearing should consider whether the county should exceed the revenue neutral rate upon hearing input from interested taxpayers, while the second hearing should consider amendments to the recommended budget after adhering objections to the same. I recommend that you allow interested taxpayers an opportunity to present oral testimony, receive public comment, approve the resolution to levy a property tax rate exceeding the revenue neutral rate, close the public hearing and receive and file public comments.

Okay. Thank you, Tom. I am now beginning the portion of the public hearing that provides interested taxpayers the opportunity to present oral testimony. Each speaker will be afforded five minutes to provide their comments. So anyone who would like to speak, please come up and state your name and address.

Okay.

Is there any other individuals, any individual that would like to provide testimony during the public hearing? Okay, last call. Are there any individuals that would like to provide testimony? Seeing none, the board has now, has not heard from any interested taxpayers on the proposed budget property tax levy in excess of the revenue neutral. Are there any comments or questions from the commissioners regarding these matters? Okay. If not, I move that the Board of County Commissioners, sitting as the governing body of the Sedgwick County Fire District number one, adopts the resolutions to approve the exceeding the revenue neutral rate.

Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Commissioner Meitzner. Aye. Commissioner Beatty. Aye. Commissioner Howe.

Aye.

Commissioner Weiss. Aye. Chairman Blubaugh. Aye.

And the resolution has been approved by a vote of five to zero. With that action taken, I will now close the public hearing. I move to receive and file comments that were made that were not met. I guess no comments were made during the public hearing. So, um... So I guess there's not a motion necessary to receive and file because we didn't have any public comment. So now, Madam Clerk, next item.

Item B, public hearing regarding the 2027 Fire District 1 budget.

Chairman Tom Stoltz, again, County Manager's Office. This afternoon, the second public hearing on the 2027 recommended budget for Sedgwick County Fire District 1. The fire district number one's recommended operating budget totals $33,499,131. This budget will be supported with a property tax levy of $25,438,662, which is approximately equivalent to 16.754 mills based on the estimated assessed evaluation and subject to technical adjustment. I recommend you allow interested taxpayers an opportunity to present oral testimony, receive public comment, close the public hearing once it's over, and receive and file public comment.

Okay. At this time, I will open the public hearing and receive public comment. So if anyone would like to speak, you have five minutes. Come up and state your name and address. I'm going to ask again, would anyone like to speak on the fire? District number one. I'm going to bring it back and close the public hearing. At this point... Just always go into adoption of it.

I think chairman. Yeah, I think at that point if you're comfortable with it, you can consider item B completed and move on to item C. And if you don't have any questions, I'm going to go ahead.

Go ahead. No question. Just a comment. Obviously, this has been a lot of work and a lot of discussion in the fire district over the last year with the conversation around made agreements and such. I just want to publicly thank the staff at Sedgwick County Fire, from leadership at the chief's level to the advisory and steering council to county leadership to the fire board members. This has been a heavy, heavy lift and a big conversation, but we have prioritized firefighter and citizen safety, and I think we've been consistent in that. from stem to stern. And we're going to see this thing through to the finish to where at the end, no matter what it looks like, whether we have those coming into the fire district and joining the fire district or those that are just entertaining new aid agreements with the fire district, the product is going to be better. the safety is going to be better. We will have better agreements and better precautionary measures for all of our staff and the citizens. So I'm just grateful for this. It's been a very, very, very heavy few months, particularly. So I want to thank all the staff at Sedgwick County Fire. I want to thank all the citizens of the Fire District. And I want to thank the aid cities. that we've been in conversations with for their commitment to trying to land this plane in a reasonable way. We're not done. We still have a lot of work to be done in this, but I'm really proud. I remember before I was on this board, I remember sitting in an audience and watching conversations about how the fire district was a house of cards. I remember that conversation directly. It's no longer, but the fire district is healthy. The fire district contains cities within Sedgwick County. They're some of the fastest growing cities in the entire state of Kansas. I'm very proud of where we're at in the fire district, as someone who lives in the fire district and pays fire district taxes. So just some comments to thank all the staff, the 153 staff that make up the fire district, you being one of them, our CFO being one of them, and the 75,000 citizens that make up the fire district. So appreciate all the work that's been done, and we'll stay the course. Okay.

Any other questions or comments?

all right i would like to um check the recommended action to adopt the resolution for the 2027 fire district one operating budget and authorize the chairman to sign second chairman if i could i i don't believe item c has been called yet on your budget so i mean i really yeah yeah so i think you're still technically on b but i think okay i think you'd wrapped up item b but i think you would want the clerk to call it and then uh okay okay yeah yeah

Well, that's why I was trying to get the clarification earlier because I was done with my action items.

But, yeah, do we need to have her officially call it? And then I would suggest doing that just for the record, Chairman. Sorry. Okay. Next item.

Item C, adoption of the 2027 Cedric County Fire District 1 budget.

Okay. I would like to take the recommended action to adopt the resolution. Go ahead, Tom. It's been too long.

Chairman of Commission Tom Stolz, County Manager's Office, it's time to adopt your fire budget. Sedgwick County Fire District 1 held two public meetings on July 29th, and then today, just a few seconds ago, regarding the 2027 recommended Sedgwick County Fire District 1 operating budget of $33 million. $499,131. The proposed budget includes $25,438,662 property tax dollars in property tax levy, which is approximately equivalent to a property tax rate expressed in mills of 16.754 mills. The 2020, let's see, I think at this point we just asked you to adopt the resolution for the budget and authorize the chairman to sign. Okay.

Commissioners, do we have any questions? I would like to move that we adopt the resolution for the 2027 fire district, one budget that includes an operating budget of $33,499,131. The total operating budget is partially funded with a property tax mill levy of $25,438,662, which is approximately equivalent to 16.74 mills based on the estimated assessed valuation subject to review and technical adjustment.

Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Commissioner Meitzner. Aye. Commissioner Beatty. Aye. Commissioner Howell. Aye. Commissioner Weiss. Aye. Chairman Buwa.

Aye. Motion passes 5-0. Next item, please. Other. We have anything on other? Next item.

Executive Session.

We do not have an Executive Session. We'll adjourn the meeting and go back to the BOCC meeting.